


For Better or For Worse

by Captain_of_Misery



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Abused Harry, Alpha Liam, Alpha Louis, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Beta Niall, Bottom Harry, King Louis Tomlinson, M/M, Mating Bond, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Omega Harry, Omega Zayn, Prince Louis Tomlinson, Royalty AU, Smut, Top Louis
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-30
Updated: 2018-12-30
Packaged: 2019-09-30 06:10:56
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 30,387
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17218454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Captain_of_Misery/pseuds/Captain_of_Misery
Summary: Prince Louis Tomlinson has to marry and mate immediately in order to become king. If he doesn't, his little sister will hate to marry at age eleven to take the throne in his place. Picking Harry out of the crowd as his spouse and omega, Louis didn't anticipate Harry's abusive past. That's not all they have to conquer, but they're married. For better or for worse.





	1. Chapter 1

Harry’s POV

 

“Why are we gathering?” I looked at Liam.

“The king is coming to visit.”

“He’s not a king until he mates and marries.” I snorted. “He’s just a prince until further notice.”

“Well, the prince needs to mate soon. His eldest sister is already engaged to a prince and set to leave. If he doesn’t mate soon, the next daughter will have to and she’s like eleven or something.”

“So why are we here?!”

“It’s mandatory for all omegas over eighteen.”

I rolled my eyes. “Wipe that sour look off your face. He’s not going to pick me.”

“You don’t know that.”

“My scent is subdued because I haven’t even had a heat yet.”

“And that’s exactly why I think he’ll choose you. You haven’t had a heat yet. You’re not tainted.”

“Tainted? Jesus, Liam. We’re people.”

“You know what I mean. Royals don’t like omegas that have been touched before.”

“I’m not going to get picked. I’m too tall. The prince is short.”

“He’s five nine,”

“Bullshit,”

“He is.”

“Okay, well, I’m five eleven.”

“He’s more intimidating in real life than in pictures.”

“Liam, I’m not his type. I can’t be. I’m no one’s type. Plus we’re from the poor side of town. I didn’t even get to shower before you dragged me here. I’m covered in mud from helping you get kids with their science projects. I’m a dirty peasant, Liam. I’m not worried about Prince Louis choosing me as his mate.”

“You’re jinxing it.”

“Oh shut up. Plus your scent is all over me. He’ll probably think-”

“There’s no mark on your neck, Harry. He’s not stupid.”

“Stop talking like you know he’s going to choose me.”

“He’s known for liking his brunettes.”

“Liam, chill out.” I looked around the group of gathered omegas. “There’s tons of brunettes. We’ll be fine. Eleanor and Danielle are here. They’re from the richer part of town.”

“Don’t you think he’d had courted them already if he wanted them.”

I blinked. “Oh,”

“Exactly. Harry, I don’t think you realize how good your chances are of being picked.”

“We’ll just stand in the back and I’ll try not to draw attention to myself.”

“Fine.”

We stood around for a while before two of the richest kids I’d ever seen climbed out of a car.

“Niall Horan is with him,” I muttered. “He seems nice,”

“He and Zayn Malik are supposed to be in his court.”

“Of course,” I snorted, looking at him curiously.

He made eye contact with me and I immediately dropped my eyes to the floor.

“Liam,” I hissed. “We made eye contact. What do I do?!”

“Shit, um,”

“Is he looking at me?”

“Yes,”

“Still?”

“Yes.” Liam snapped. “What happened to not drawing attention to yourself?”

“I was trying to figure out if he’s really five nine.”

“Well, he’s walking over here.”

“I could run.”

“This meeting was mandatory, Harry.”

“We could make out.”

“No, I’d like to survive this. Thanks,” Liam hissed.

I heard footsteps and clutched my hands into fists. Shit. Shit. Shit.

“Why is your scent subdued, lovely?” A raspy voice questioned.

Liam nudged me when I didn’t answer so I looked up, meeting bright blue eyes.

“Me?”

“Yes, darling. Why is your scent subdued?” he asked again.

“I haven’t had my first heat yet,” I said quietly.

“How old are you?”

“Eighteen as of last week,”

“Perfect. With me, sweetheart.” He instructed.

I sent a panicked look in Liam’s direction, clutching his arm.

“Darling, we have to go.”

“Let his friend come with him. He looks terrified.” An Irish accent suggested.

“I’m not taking his alpha friend with us.”

“You should. Z will be livid if you don’t. You know he’s already mad you didn’t let him come.”

“Fine, for Z.” Louis huffed. “Come on, both of you.”

Liam and I followed after Niall and Louis, climbing into the car with them.

“Come here, pretty,”

I looked up to see Louis staring at me. “Me?”

“Who else?”

I looked at Liam before climbing over to Louis.

He pulled me into his lap. “It’s alright, darling. I won’t hurt you.”

Liam scoffed.

Louis snarled and I jumped, trying to scramble away. “Shit, sorry, sorry. You’re alright,” He carded a hand through my hair and locked an arm around my waist.

I made a small noise of upset, squirming in his hold.

“Why would you snarl at him like that? He’s already uncomfortable. You know that.”

“Niall,” Louis warned. “Don’t,”

“You don’t! He’s a kid.”

“He’s eighteen,”

“Still, barely legal.”

“What do you want from me?”

“I want you to go easy on him. You’re about to shove him into a whole different world. Our world.”

“There’s nothing wrong with our world.”

“Except for the fact that he’s never had an interaction with our world and you’re about to make him the queen of our world.”

“That’s not how that works. He’s still a boy. Boys can’t be queens.”

“Louis, not the point. You can’t throw him into everything like this. You can’t pull him onto your lap and expect him to roll with it. You just picked a random kid out of the crowd.”

“I didn’t pick him out of the crowd at random. He-”

“Made eye contact with him and it was incredible. I know. I heard. This amazing eye contact, Niall. He’s got the prettiest eyes, Niall.”

“I’m going to punch you in the throat, Niall.” Louis snapped. “Watch your fucking mouth,”

I rubbed my thumb against his wrist.

“Thank you, baby.” He hummed, relaxing a little.

“You’re disgusting.” Niall shook his head.

Louis punched him in the arm. “Stop it.”

“You like him. You’ve known him for like an hour and you really like him.”

“So?”

“So?! Zayn is going to smack you when he sees that you got mud all over your clothes. He loves making the clothes. He hates when you get dirty. Remember when you played footie last week in your nice shirt? He almost cried.”

“He’ll be fine. We’ll distract him with the fireman alpha.”

I looked at Liam who snorted.

“Do you do this often? Bring alphas to your friend?” Liam asked.

“Just the large brutish ones,” Louis answered.

I giggled.

“He thinks I’m funny.” Louis gloated.

“You don’t know that. He could be laughing at you.”

“No way,”

“He could be laughing at you.” Liam chimed in.

I could feel Louis’ chest vibrate with his quiet growl. “Liam,” I hissed.

“I’m not going to act differently because he’s a prince. I’m not. You know that your safety and well being is my priority.”

“Are you two dating or...?” Niall asked.

“No, but I’ve been looking out for him my entire life. I’m not about to stop because you’re royalty.”

“You give off the older brother vibe,” Louis snorted.

“Remember what I taught you, H?”

I raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, I remember.”

“Good.”

“H?” Louis asked.

“It’s a nickname, your highness.” Liam snapped.

“What is your problem, mate?!” Louis hissed.

“You seem to think you can pluck an omega from anywhere and it’s fine.”

“It is fine.”

“I told you this wouldn’t go over well.” Niall snorted.

“That’s enough,” Louis yelled.

I whined, squirming and trying to get back to Liam.

“Woah, woah, woah,” Louis held me tighter.

“H, look at me. Come on. Look at me,” Liam demanded.

I made eye contact with him, slowly.

“H, you didn’t do anything wrong. It’s okay. It’s alright. He’s not gonna hurt you. Doesn’t seem like the type and if he tries, I’ll rip his actual lungs out. Okay, H?”

I continued to squirm.

“Hey, princeling, pet him.”

“What?”

“I said pet him. Either let him come back over here or you do it. Omegas are tactile in nature so you have to establish comforting physical contact.”

Louis scratched lightly at my scalp. “You’re okay, darling. Not one for loud noises I take it? I’m sorry, sweetheart.”

“He’s not going to do very well if he doesn’t handle loud well. You’re as loud as they come.”

“I don’t think the volume is an issue on its own. I think it’s more of the tone and the yelling together.”

“Can we not psychoanalyze me, please?” I snapped. “Especially when I’m right here?”

“Sorry,” Louis went back to scratching at my scalp. “You know, I’m going to learn your name eventually. You could speed that up by telling me what it is.”

“You could’ve asked him for his name at any point.” Liam snapped.

“I can stand up for myself.” I hissed.

“You’re in his lap, H.”

“He’s not hurting me or groping me. It’s an alpha thing. You know that.”

“Doesn’t mean that I have to like it.”

“Why are you covered in mud?” Niall interjected. “You two seem close and Liam isn’t, but you are.”

“The younger kids needed help with science projects. Better me than them,”

“So you like children?”

“Don’t all omegas?”

“No. Have you met Eleanor? Or Danielle? They’re both horrible with children.” Louis snorted.

“Oh, well, I quite like them.”

“Good. Louis has a massive family.”

“Isn’t that the whole reason for all of this? Because your sister is eleven and next in line for the throne if you don’t mate soon?” I asked.

“She hasn’t even presented yet. She’s not ready to mate or to run the country. Even if she is an omega she won’t present until she’s older and I won’t let her be married off to some twat of an alpha so she can be in the most high-pressure situations at eleven. It’s my problem, not hers. She deserves to be a kid as a teenager. Not a wife and a mother and a queen. Not to mention she’d fucking hate it. She barely tolerates events now. I can’t imagine how she’d feel as a queen. She trusts me to take care of her. All of my sisters do and I intend to do just that. Lottie is technically of age but she’s in love and I won’t take that from her. She wants to go with him and I won’t stop her.”

“So you’ll sacrifice love for your sisters then?”

He huffed. “Yes, but no? I don’t think it’s all that simple. It was my every intention to sacrifice love for them, but...nevermind.”

I leaned back, putting my head on his shoulder. “Tell me?”

“I gathered everyone to see if I was drawn to anyone. Lottie, when she met her fiancé, just felt drawn to him. In a room of suitors with no prior knowledge of him or who he is, she felt drawn to him. He could’ve been a servant for all she knew. But she was drawn to him and they’re so in love. The soulmate thing is real, you know.”

“You think that I’m yours then?!” I raised an eyebrow.

“Out of a crowd of over a thousand people where you were standing in the far back, I looked at you first.”

“Coincidence.” I rolled my eyes.

“No, I don’t think so.”

“I think so.”

“Why did you rub your thumb against my wrist?”

“I don’t know. I just did.”

“Mhmm, weird. Isn’t it?”

“No, not really.”

“You ever done that before?”

“Well, no, but-”

He rubbed at the skin under my ear with his thumb, making me melt into him. “Good boy,” he whispered.

I flushed and he grinned.

“Be a good boy and tell me your name.”

“Harry.”

“Alright, Harold, I can work with that.”

“Harry. It’s not short for anything. It’s just Harry.” Liam glared at him.

“Niall was right, Zayn will very much like you.”

“Why?”

“He likes strong firemen types, but he really hates when they bow to me because I’m royalty. He doesn’t so he doesn’t think his alpha should. And he doesn’t want to be made to bow to me. Which I agree with. We’re friends and I respect him.”

“Respect him when he slaps you.”

When we finally got to the palace (honestly what the fuck), we were immediately directed into a large room. Liam and I were directed to two large bathrooms and showered. We changed into clothes that were laid out for us and returned barefoot.

Louis shrugged out of his robes and I was surprised to see jeans and a band t-shirt underneath. “Niall, can you bring these to Zayn? He can come be mad, but tell him not to raise his voice. We have guests,”

I caught his glance towards me and groaned internally. Please don’t ask me about it.

Niall left the room and Louis handed me a glass of water.

“How are you doing?”

“I’m okay.”

Not long after a very tan and very angry Zayn Malik threw open the door. “Do NOT tell me when I can and cannot yell at you for ruining my work! I don’t care if we have company!” He hissed.

I jumped, dropping the glass in my hand. “Oh my God. I’m sorry. I’m really sorry. Oh my God.”

Louis reached for my hand and I flinched, stepping back. He held up his hands and slowly stepped closer. “It’s alright, yeah?”

“I’m sorry, I’ll clean it up. I didn’t mean to.”

“Harry, it’s okay,” Louis said quietly. “No one is angry with you, alright? It’s okay, darling. It’s okay.”

I glanced around at the mess and panicked a little.

“Baby, relax. I’m gonna touch you, okay? Just want to get you out of the glass, alright?” He grabbed my waist and swept my legs out from under me quickly. “Zayn, since this is your fault, you go and find a medical kit.” He put me on the couch and got on his knees in front of me. “You’ve got stepped on some glass, but it doesn’t look deep. I can take care of it, yeah?”

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault, sweetheart.” He reached up and rubbed the skin under my ear.

Zayn returned with a medical kit and Louis sat cross-legged in front of me. “Want me to do it?”

“No, you can fuck off. I told you not to yell.”

“Niall didn’t tell me that I was going to scare him like that. I just thought you were trying to save face.”

Louis scoffed. “As if.” He carefully removed the glass and cleaned the wounds before wrapping my feet in gauze. “There we go, love.”

“Thank you. I’m sorry I broke the glass.”

“Not your fault,” he shook his head. “Zayn, that wasn’t very nice. I was so hoping that you two would be good friends.”

“It was an accident, Louis.” Zayn huffed. “It won’t happen again.” His eyes flickered to me. “Pretty eyes, cute friend.”

“Liam, and apparently I’m your peace offering.” Liam snorted.

I shot him a look.

“H, come on. If he was going to have me killed for insubordination, he’d have done it by now.”

“He’s still a prince.”

“Well, he’s still a guy.”

I snorted. “You’re an alpha, Liam. Rules are different for us.”

“Actually, love, you’re about to join the royal family so there’s a lot of rules that won’t apply to you anymore.” Louis interrupted.

“Fashion rules apply,” Zayn grumbled.

Within three hours, I’d met his entire family and been out in front of the most important people in the country. In joggers.

Louis wrapped a tight arm around my waist. “Okay, darling, tomorrow we marry and bond. Then we wait for your heat and mate.”

I looked at him. “Just like that?”

“Just like that.”

“Uh,”

“This is your room for now, alright?”

I glanced around. “But-”

“You’ll be fine.” And with that, he was gone.

I frowned, digging through the bookcase for something to read.

The door cracked open and a girl slipped through. “Fizzy, right?”

“Yeah, you’re Harry?”

“That’s me.”

“You’re gonna marry my brother?”

“Uh, I guess so, yeah.”

She made her way over to me and sat next to me. “Did you grow up with any siblings? Sisters?”

“I did, well, a sister.”

“What’s her name?”

“Her name was Gemma.”

“Was?”

Oh shit.

“She changed it later,”

“Oh. Okay.” Fizzy nodded. “Harry, do you know how to braid?”

“Of course I do.” I scoffed. “Do you want me to braid yours?”

“Please!”

I sat behind her and worked quietly.

“You’re an omega, right?” She asked.

“Yeah, I am.”

“What’s it like?”

“Being an omega?”

“Yeah. Louis says I might be one.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, but I don’t want to be. I want to be an alpha like him. Like Lottie!”

“Maybe you will be.”

“How did you find out you were an omega? Louis won’t tell me how he found out he’s an alpha.”

That’s probably for the best. “Um, I actually didn’t. My best friend figured it out.”

“How?”

“Alphas, omegas, and betas smell different.”

“Is that why you smell pretty?”

“Might be the soap,” I laughed.

“No, you used Louis’ soap. I know what that smells like. This is different.”

“Oh, well. Omegas tend to smell like sweeter things.”

“And alphas?”

“Usually more earthy.”

“Do we smell them the same?”

“Maybe,”

“Watch does Louis smell like to you?”

“I, uh, I’m not sure.”

“You didn’t scent him?”

“No, there was too much going on.”

“Oh. Well, I’ll ask again after you do.” She shrugged.

I wrapped the hair tie at the bottom of the braid. “And we’re done!”

She bounced off to the mirror and I went back to picking books off the shelf. “What’s a heat like?”

I dropped all the books. “What?”

“Being in heat? What’s it like?”

“I, um, I don’t know. I haven’t...I haven’t had one yet.”

“Really?”

“No, I haven’t. Why so curious?”

“Because you’re an omega and Zayn is the only other omega I know. He doesn’t answer my questions.”

“No?”

“He tries. But he gets distracted by Louis ruining his clothing.”

“They don’t teach you about it?”

“Not until after we present.”

“Oh.” That’s...weird.

“What makes alphas so special and important?”

“Uh,” I blinked. “Mostly the authority, I guess. They have what’s called an alpha voice and it gives them authority.”

“Most of them seem to growl a lot.”

“Yeah...you’re not wrong.”

“Harry!” Louis burst into the room. “I need your help. We’re all spreading out to look for Fizzy. She’s not in her room and she’s not in the kitchen or-”

“Louis,” I interrupted. “She’s right here.”

He stopped, looking at her.

She waved.

“You are supposed to be in bed! What are you doing in here?” He asked. “Did you find her and bring her here or-”

“She came here,” I said quietly, moving to pick up the books from earlier. “I did not kidnap your eleven-year-old sister.”

“I didn’t mean it like that.”

“You did, actually,” I mumbled.

He opened his mouth to say something, presumably to argue, and I got there first.

“You should take her back. I’m sure everyone is really worried.”

“You’ve upset him, Louis! Fix it!”

“Fizzy, it’s okay. It’s time for bed, yeah? You can ask me more things tomorrow.”

“Fizzy, go to Mum. She’s having a heart attack.”

“But I like talking to Harry.”

“Tomorrow,” I promised. “If you go to your mum right now.”

She sighed. “Fine. Goodnight, Louis. Goodnight, Harry. I’ll think of more questions.”

“Goodnight Fizzy,”

The door clicked shut and it was quiet for a second.

“What did you tell her?” He snapped.

“I just answered some questions.”

“About what?” He demanded.

“Me, mostly. She wanted to know a bit about omegas and alphas.”

“Did you talk to her about knotting?”

I looked up at him, finding a steely gaze from him. “She’s eleven. Why would I do that? I didn’t kidnap her and I didn’t scandalize her either. She wanted to know about how she might know if she was an omega. If we smelled different from alphas. I told her about the alpha voice and I told her that I didn’t know when she asked about what a heat was like. I didn’t tell your baby sister about sex or knotting or slick or anything weird like that. I didn’t do anything wrong.”

“She’s my sister.”

“I know.”

“Do you? Because-”

“Go ask her what we talked about since you clearly don’t believe me. I’m not an idiot. I can handle speaking to an eleven-year-old appropriately.”

“You can’t hold a glass of water and I’m supposed to trust you with my sister?” he growled.

I looked at the floor for a second before putting all the books back on the shelf. “I’d like to be alone, please,” I said after a beat of silence.

“We’re not done here.”

“I’ve nothing left to say.”

“Fine.” He slammed the door on his way out and I sank to the floor.


	2. Chapter 2

Louis’ POV

“Louis! Harry won’t speak to me. He promised to answer more questions, but he’s not even looked up at me.”  
I raised an eyebrow. “So?”  
“So?! What did you do? He was nice. Now he’s all wrong. His scent is off. He’s not even on the bed or in a chair. He’s just tucked himself into a corner.”  
“He what?!” Liam hissed, coming into the room with Zayn.  
“He’ll be fine.”  
“We need to talk. Right now.”  
I rolled my eyes. “Fizzy,”  
“I’m going!” She huffed.  
Liam was snarling the second the door closed. “You’re a piece of shit. What did you do to him?”  
“Nothing.”  
“Really? Because him sitting in a corner just seems normal to you? What part of yesterday led you to believe he had anything other than an abusive past? Do you know how hard I’ve worked to try and bring him into a better place mentally? You’ve fucked it up. So what did you do?”  
“Abusive past?”  
“Even I knew that,” Zayn offered.  
“Where is he? I want to see him. Right now, I’m serious. If he’s cutting again, I need to put an end to it right fucking now.”  
“Cutting?”  
“Where. Is. He.”  
I sighed and led the way to his room.  
Sure enough, Harry was tucked in a corner with his knees hugged to his chest.  
“Fizzy said she came to see you. She said you wouldn’t even look at her.”  
“You got mad. Can’t ruin anything if I’m in the corner.” He mumbled. “Can’t break anything here either.”  
I moved toward him and he flinched a bit. “What’s happening here?”  
“Just get it over with.”  
“What?”  
“Just do it already. Get it over with. Please just do it already.”  
“Oh, God.” I shook my head. “I’m not going to hit you.”  
“That’s what they always say.”  
“I’m really not going to hit you.”  
“H, he’s not,” Liam confirmed. “It’s okay.”  
“I didn’t ruin your sister.”  
“I’m sorry. I’m just overprotective.”  
He huffed.  
“You don’t get it. You don’t have a sister.”  
“Don’t pretend to know me or what I’ve been through. You don’t know anything about me. Because you ditched me first chance you got and just assumed you knew everything. I don’t have a sister, but I did. I’m not an idiot. I didn’t ruin your sister.” he kept his eyes on the floor. “You brought me here. If you think I’m so shitty that I’d kidnap and scandalize your sister, why am I still here?”  
“I didn’t mean to set you off.”  
“The last person who said something like you did last night, Liam had to knock out with a baseball bat because he just kept hitting me. So.”  
“Harry, shit. I’m sorry.”  
“I don’t want your bullshit apologies or your sympathy. You think I’m going to ruin your sister? Let me go home then. I think it’s clear that you don’t trust me and that I don’t belong here.”  
“You’re not going anywhere.” I snarled.  
“Louis, maybe-”  
“No, it’s done. It’s too late. If he had any objections, he should’ve made them earlier. It’s already been announced and approved and arranged.”  
“You make it sound like I had any place to object,” Harry said quietly.  
“Well, if you did, you don’t now. We’re getting married tonight. You’ll wear my mark on your neck and you will just have to deal with it.”  
“You’ll marry me but I’m not allowed to speak to your sister? Makes sense.”  
“I didn’t say you couldn’t speak to her. I was just making sure-”  
“That I didn’t bring up sex to an eleven-year-old. Even if I would, which I wouldn’t, I have nothing to tell. You know that. I don’t know why you’re acting like this. But I get now why she came to me. She said you wouldn’t answer the questions. I assume you won’t even tolerate them. No wonder she’s curious. She came to me because she wants answers and she has nowhere else to go.”  
“I answer her questions.”  
“Really? Then why did she ask me how I had known I presented? Why did she ask me if being an omega is what makes me smell pretty? How could she have so many questions for me if she gets answers from you?”  
“You’re out of line. This is my family.”  
“It’s about to be mine as well. Or is that not how marriage works for you up here? Am I just to be your ticket to the throne and then you’ll lock me in a room?”  
“Of course not. Christ.”  
“What is my place here? Why don’t you tell me that? Because if I’m supposed to be your pawn, tell me now so I can get you a cardboard cut out of myself. You’d do better with that.”  
“You’re not a bloody pawn.”  
“So what then? Because you don’t want me talking to your sister. So what exactly am I?”  
“It’s not that I don’t want you talking to her. But I don’t know you and-”  
“Who is to blame for that?” he interrupted. “You brought me here and then shut me in a room. Of course, you don’t know me. You don’t want to know me. You want to get this over with. I can see it all over your face.”  
“I’ll know you after our bond is forged.”  
“Fine. So be it then. But don’t say you don’t know me like it’s my fault. I haven’t lied and I won’t lie.”  
“Why do you jump at loud noises?”  
“Because it means someone is angry and that usually means that I’m about to get beat to a pulp.”  
“Why do you sit in the corner like that when you’re upset?”  
“Because I was told to stay in the corner so I couldn’t break anything.”  
“What happened to your sister?”  
“She died in a car accident with my mum.”  
“What happened to you?”  
“I was put into foster care and I had to be moved around a lot.”  
“Why?”  
“Because the first family had a father that tried to molest me and I fought back so he broke three of my ribs. The second family had an uncle who would use me as an ashtray. The third family had a mother who used to whip us. The fourth family was the father Liam had to hit with a baseball bat to get him to stop hitting me. I had six broken bones, eight fractures, two black eyes, and cuts. They let Liam take custody of me after that. Is that enough for you? Are you satisfied?”  
Liam wrapped him in a tight hug and glared at me.  
I pulled Zayn into the hall with me. “Go get Fizzy. Bring her here. They get along, I think.”  
“You know you really fucked up, right?”  
“Yes, I know. Thank you.” I snapped, slipping back into the room.  
“I don’t like you.” Liam directed at me.  
“Yeah, well, I’m not so sure I like me either right now.” I sighed.  
“Where’s Zayn?”  
“He went to get Fizzy.” I nudged him aside, sitting on the floor next to Harry. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said...well. I should’ve said a lot of things.”  
“Yeah. Well.”  
Fizzy came into the room. “Are you feeling better?”  
“Yeah, Fizzy. Thanks for checking in on me.”  
“I brought you candy. Candy always makes me feel better.”  
“Fizzy, you can’t keep stealing candy from the kitchen.” I sighed.  
“It was for a good cause.” She seemed unbothered by the scolding and put a basket in front of Harry. “I brought lots of stuff.”  
“What else did you take, Fizzy?”  
“Bananas, apples, oranges, biscuits, grapes, apple juice, orange juice, scones,” she listed.  
“Wow, you’ve been busy.”  
“I didn’t know what he’d like! What if I only brought sweets and he didn’t want sweets?”  
“That was very thoughtful of you. Thank you,” Harry gave her a small smile.  
“Are you gonna braid your hair? For tonight?”  
“No, I don’t think that would be a good idea.”  
“Will you braid mine?”  
“Of course.”  
“Fizzy, Lottie or Mum or I can braid your hair. You don’t need to bother Harry with it.”  
“Harry does it best though.”  
“I don’t mind, but I assume that’s your way of saying that you do mind.”  
“I don’t. I just don’t want you to feel obligated.”  
“She’s nice. I don’t mind doing her hair. I actually like doing it.”  
“See, Louis.” Fizzy huffed.  
“Alright, alright,” I conceded.  
“You can go. I can tell you don’t want to be here.” Harry whispered. “You can go spend time with Niall or something.”  
“I’d like to stay if that’s okay.”  
“I’m not going to ruin her.” He hissed, watching her dig through the basket.  
“That’s not why I’m staying.” I pulled him to settle between my legs, facing Fizzy.  
“This is weird,”  
“It’s supposed to be relaxing for omegas.” I shrugged.  
“I don’t think we’re doing it right.”  
“Lean back a little,”  
He squirmed a bit but did as he was told.  
I nuzzled into his neck a little.  
“Are you scenting him, Louis?”  
“Maybe.”  
“What does he smell like?”  
“Vanilla,” I answered quietly.  
“What does Louis smell like?”  
Harry leaned into me a little further to scent me properly. “Cinnamon,”  
Fizzy hummed, appeased by our answers.  
When Harry had braided her hair and answered some questions and accepted some of her food offerings, she ran off to get ready.  
“Zayn will be in soon to help you get ready.”  
“I can dress all by myself.”  
“Oh, that’s not the issue. The issue is he’s anal about the clothes he makes. I once got a four-hour lecture on how to button up a shirt.” I snorted. “He’ll also be here to make you feel more at ease about everything.”  
“Which part? Marrying someone I don’t know or doing it so publicly?”  
“A little of both. I think the number of people will surprise you, but I’ve tried to minimize it.” I chewed my lip. “Could you flip around and straddle me, darling?”  
“Why?”  
“Because we should practice kissing.”  
“Oh.” He cleared his throat and did as I asked. “I should warn you that I’ve only ever been kissed as part of an assault.”  
“I won’t hurt you.”  
“We’ll see, won’t we?”  
I frowned, tucking back a stray curl. “We’ll be married and bonded soon. I will take care of you, always.”  
He scoffed a little.  
I pressed a kiss to his forehead. “Can I?”  
“Uh, yeah,”  
I pressed a careful kiss to his lips before pressing a little harder. I licked his bottom lip and he pulled back.  
“Did you lick me?”  
I laughed. “I did. To ask you to open your mouth,”  
“You want to snog, then?”  
Yes. Yes. I want to snog you. “I think we should,”  
“Alright, again? Now I know what that is for?”  
I nodded, trying again.  
This time, he opened up and let me lick into his mouth.  
He whined a little, following my lead and pressing a bit closer.  
I cradled his jaw with one hand and rested the other on his waist.  
His fingers clutched at my shoulders and I groaned. “Sorry,”  
“Don’t be sorry. You’re doing so well. You’re so good at this, Christ.” I mumbled, touching our mouths together again. “You alright?” I asked, pulling back.  
He had a flush down his face and neck, biting his lip.  
I nuzzled into his neck to try to avoid sexual thoughts.  
“You’re hard.” He said quietly.  
I huffed out a laugh against his neck. “Yes, I’m well aware.”  
“I...I don’t know what I’m supposed to do.”  
“That’s okay, baby. We’re just snogging, yeah?”  
“Okay,”  
We were snogging again when Zayn and Liam came into the room.  
“Gross,” Liam complained.  
“Louis didn’t upset Harry so it could be worse.” Zayn shrugged.  
“Is it time?”  
“Yeah, it’s time,” Zayn said quietly.  
Harry squirmed a little. “So we’re really gonna get married.”  
“Yeah, baby.” I helped him to stand. “You should wear your hair however you like, by the way. I don’t think being in braids would be a problem.”  
“Okay,”


	3. Chapter 3

Harry’s POV

I fidgeted with the cuffs of the suit jacket. “Does it have to be white?”  
“Yeah, unfortunately. I hate all white clothing, but it’s traditional for the omega to wear white.” Zayn frowned. “It’s stupid, but at least you look good in it.”  
“Uh, thanks.” I fixed my bun, again.  
“You get a crown now, you know. It should have like emeralds on it, which is cool because of your eyes. Louis’ has sapphires,”  
“That’s nice, I guess.”  
“You’re really just not thrilled to be royalty, huh?” He laughed.  
“Let’s call a spade a spade. I’m a pawn from a shitty part of town. I will not only give him the crown, but I will also boost his image. The savior that is King Louis Tomlinson, taking poor Harry Styles and giving him royalty. Which is all well and good until he hits me too.”  
“Louis isn’t like that.”  
“Yeah, none of them are until they get mad. So.”  
“Louis isn’t a bad guy. He’s not. I think the stress is making him lash out verbally, but he’d never hit you. Plus you could totally take him.”  
I snorted.  
“I’m serious, about him. He’s a good person. He’s just worried and frustrated. He wants to take the crown so Fizzy doesn’t have to and he wants to understand you, but he doesn’t know how. Once all the formality shit is over, he’ll be back to normal.”  
“Or it will stick.”  
“It won’t. I’ve known him since we were kids. He’s not that guy. And if he ever hits you, you can run to me and I’ll rip his stupid head off. If Liam doesn’t get to him first.”  
I hummed. “You and Liam? Are you guys like a thing now?”  
“Uh,” He flushed. “I’d like that. I think. But we’re both preoccupied with making sure all of the extravagances goes off well.”  
“Liam has been protecting me for a really long time and I know him better than anyone. You just need to confront him. He’s just kind of oblivious to that type of thing. He’s too busy trying to take care of everyone that he doesn’t think about it. But you should go for it. He always said he wanted an omega who refused to take anyone’s shit, status be damned.”  
“I am very outspoken.”  
“Yeah, I noticed.” I laughed. “Why didn’t you and Louis just get together? It seems natural enough.”  
“Yeah, not a chance in hell. We tried it when we were younger. Dating, at least. It was a disaster. I think we are better as friends. We kissed. Once. Just once though. I cried and he threw up.”  
I raised an eyebrow.  
“I think watching him pick his nose when we were little really takes the romance out of things.”  
I smiled. “Thank you.”  
“For what?”  
“Being so nice to me.”  
“You don’t have to thank people for being nice to you. Please, any of them who aren’t nice will just get arrested for their gross disrespect.”  
I huffed out a laugh.  
“Louis will be good to you. He’s not himself right now. He was a little crazy after meeting with some of the royal advisors.”  
“What happened?”  
“He asked for extra time to get to know you and let you adjust here before the craziness of the ceremony and public shit. They told him they were moving up his deadline and that he could either marry you today or call suitors for Fizzy.”  
“Wow. That’s intense.”  
“Yeah, so I think when Fizzy wasn’t in her room and he couldn’t find her and then she was with you, it all just kind of came to a big blow out. He can’t fire those advisors until he’s king and he can’t be king until he does as they say.”  
“That sucks,”  
“Yeah. When he finally calms down he’s gonna feel like a massive tit.”  
“Why do you say that?”  
“Because he’ll hate how he acted.”  
“Well, I guess only time will tell.” I shrugged.  
“Come on,” Zayn held out his hand to me. “It’s less scary this way. You can squeeze as tight as you need.”  
I took his hand and we walked out together.  
“Watch where you walk, okay? Don’t indulge them.”  
“Indulge who?”  
We rounded the corner and then there were tons of people, taking photos and asking questions.  
“Just walk,” Zayn squeezed my hand.  
I nodded and watched the ground as we kept walking.  
“Animals,” Louis mumbled. “Are you alright?”  
I looked up. “Yeah, I’m fine.”  
“Thanks, Z.” Louis nodded, grabbing my other hand and pulling me along.  
I took the chance to look him over and he looked really good in his black suit. Like so good. Great ass.  
“Baby, you alright?” he squeezed my hand.  
“I’m fine, all things considered.”  
“Okay, the ceremony is quick. Always is. Then I’m gonna have to bite you.”  
“Yeah, I know.”  
“There’s gonna be lots of flashes. But it’s okay,”  
“Mmm.”  
“And they’re gonna do the thing where they clink glasses together and we have to kiss so-”  
“I’ve been to a wedding before.”  
“Right. Sorry.” He nodded, fidgeting with his jacket. “Zayn told you about the crown?”  
“Yeah,”  
“It feels weird at first, but you’ll get used to it and forget its there. Um.” He fixed his hair. “If you’re uncomfortable just tell me, yeah? You’re royalty now and anyone who makes you uncomfortable can be escorted out.”  
“You okay?”  
“Yeah, just. It’s weird. They moved up the date and I just. It’s a lot really fast and I’m sure that sounds hypocritical to you, considering I plucked you from your town, but. Tomorrow I’m a husband and a mate and the king of a country. This is literally what I was raised for, but I feel so fucking unprepared.”  
“Well, after today, you get to fire whoever tried to make your baby sister a wife at age eleven so that’s pretty cool.”  
He laughed. “That’s true.”  
We stood in front of the altar and were married.  
I slipped a simple black band onto Louis’ finger and he slipped a diamond encrusted one on mine. I squirmed a little and he gave a tiny smile.  
We were told to kiss and he took my face in his hands.  
“I’m gonna get it for not warning you about the ring, aren’t I?”  
“Yeah, just a bit.”  
“Worth it,” he laughed, kissing me and licking into my already open mouth.  
We broke apart and I was nearly blinded by all the cameras.  
“We’re inside, they really need flash?”  
“Apparently,” He hooked an arm around my waist. “Marking you is more private. There will be a photographer, but just one. Or it should be just one.” He whispered, kissing my forehead.  
“Is that next?”  
“Yes, I believe so.”  
“I’ll be connected to you then.”  
“Yes, it won’t be both ways until I actually knot you.”  
I flushed and squirmed a little. “Right.” I caught sight of his mum and noted the marks all the way up her neck. “Um, do you bite me all the way up my neck?”  
“Yes, but not publicly. Just the one on your bond spot for now.”  
“Oh. Does it...hurt?”  
“I don’t know, baby. Sorry,”  
I nodded, letting him lead me to a smaller room.  
His mum, Fizzy, Zayn, Liam, Niall, and a handful of people filed in after us.  
I clutched Louis’ hand a little tighter.  
“It’s okay.” He hushed, pulling me a little closer. His hand slipped under my suit jacket, but not under my shirt. “I’ve got you. This and coronation then all you have to do is smile and look pretty. Can do that in your sleep,”  
I snorted.  
“Sorry about the rings. I just forgot.”  
“Why do you get a normal one and I get the thing that hit the Titanic?”  
“Because you’re the omega and it’s like a royalty thing. Omegas in the royal family receive the most obnoxious jewelry. That’s just how it is.”  
“That’s stupid. Switch with me,”  
“Nope, it’s been photographed as yours. Too late to switch,”  
I huffed.  
He nudged our mouths together and snogged me until I felt tingly with it.  
“I’m still annoyed about the ring.”  
“I’ll snog you some more later then.” He laughed.  
I snorted.  
“Are you ready?” He asked, watching a few more people trickle in.  
“As I can be, I guess.”  
Louis kissed my forehead and slid the jacket off my shoulders. “Gotta expose you a bit, sorry. Hope you don’t get cold easily...” He unbuttoned the first few buttons of my shirt, just enough to pull it down and expose the juncture between my neck and my shoulder.  
“Whenever you’re ready,” Niall said quietly.  
I fidgeted and Louis grabbed my hands in his.  
“Hey, it’s okay. Relax. We can draw this out a bit longer. Do you want that? Do you want to sit?”  
I shook my head. “I’m just nervous. It’s fine.”  
“Me too,” He kissed me. “Try to breathe normally,”  
I huffed.  
“Sorry, I know.” He tucked a stray curl behind my ear. “How about you put your hands on my shoulders and we’ll pretend we’re shitty Twilight cosplayers?”  
I giggled, moving my hands. “Louis,”  
“It could help!” he grinned, putting one hand on my waist and one on the unexposed side of my neck. “I’ll try to be gentle.”  
“I don’t know if that’s even possible.”  
He tilted my head a little bit away to give himself more room, glancing at someone before nodding. “Breathe and close your eyes, baby.”  
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.  
He pressed a kiss to the spot. And then he bit down hard, breaking the skin.  
I gasped and dug my nails into his shoulders, squirming a bit.  
His grip on me tightened, holding me still as he bit harder.  
I whimpered a little, trying not to move. I was surprised at the surge of emotion I felt towards him. The need to obey and please the alpha.  
Someone stepped closer to us and he let go to snarl at them before licking the wound.  
“What happened to gentle?”  
“Sorry,”  
I felt his concern was over me as his eyes scanned my face and then guilt, pride, and guilt again as he looked over the mark. “Why do you feel guilty?”  
He startled a little. “Forgot that you’d be able to do that. I heard you whimper so I know it hurt.”  
“It’s fine. It doesn’t anymore. It was just for a second.” I shook my head. “You also felt pride,”  
“It’s a good mark,” he tried not to look smug.  
“You’re not good at pretending to not be smug.”  
He snorted. “Sorry,” He watched someone carefully, growling at them when the got too close.  
“What? Why are you concerned?”  
“I don’t want them crowding my omega.” He huffed.  
A surge of pride rushed through both of us and I preened a bit.  
What the fuck, Harry.  
Louis led me out of the room, pressing me close to him. He brought me to a bigger room with thrones and his anxiety started to rise. The massive crowd definitely wasn’t helping.  
“It’s your throne and rightfully so,” I whispered.  
It seemed to calm him a little.  
“Hey, look how proud Fizzy is.” I nudged him in the direction of his beaming sister.  
He turned to her and calmed immediately, smiling back at her.  
We were separated for a bit so Louis could be dressed in formal robes and a ceremony commenced in Latin.  
I watched quietly as it progressed and heard them say ‘King Louis Tomlinson’.  
Louis ducked his head as a large crown with sapphires was placed in his hair.  
Someone nudged me forward, Zayn probably and I joined him in front of the massive crowd.  
“Why am I up here?” I asked.  
“Unity. And your crown.”  
I ducked my head when someone approached with it. I was surprised by the weight of it but stood straight anyway.  
“You look lovely,”  
“You can say that because you haven’t seen yourself.”  
He laughed.  
Some man stepped in front of us. “And now, I give you the Tomlinsons.”  
After some amount of time, Louis moved over to me and wrapped an arm tight around my waist. “Welcome to the royal family.”  
I snorted. “Cute,”

~~~

I woke up to find the bed cold on Louis’ side.  
“Mr. Tomlinson?”  
I looked at a small woman holding a tray of food. “Um, Louis isn’t here. I’m not really sure where he is.”  
“Mr. Tomlinson, your husband asked for breakfast to be brought to you.” She laughed.  
“Oh. Right. We’re married. Sorry, that will take some getting used to. Thank you for bringing this in.”  
“Of course, your highness.”  
“Oh, you don’t have to do all that. Louis is really the royalty.”  
“But now so are you.”  
“Oh. Yeah.” I took the tray of food. “Do you happen to know where my husband is at the moment?”  
“He said to let you know he’d be in meetings all day, but that you should expect a visit from Zayn and Perrie.”  
“Okay, thank you.”  
She left the room and I ate what was given before setting the tray aside.  
Zayn entered a little while later with a blonde woman behind him.  
“Perrie, I assume.” I greeted her.  
“Yes, Perrie Edwards.”  
“Harry Styles. Tomlinson, sorry. Harry Tomlinson. I’m working on getting used to that.”  
“That’s okay, I understand. A lot has changed very quickly.”  
“Can I ask what this meeting is about?”  
“Oh, Louis didn’t tell you?”  
“He didn’t even tell me directly that you’d be here,” I mumbled.  
“Oh, well, Perrie is going to be on your staff as your stylist. So she’ll do for you what I do for Louis.”  
“I have a staff?”  
“Louis didn’t tell you any of this?”  
“No. He was gone when I woke up.”  
“That’s alright. We’ll get you dressed and worry about him later.” Zayn hurried.  
“Where is he?”  
“He’s in a meeting.”  
“Okay.”  
When the two of them were done, Zayn told me I could walk around the castle a bit and find my bearings.  
I could feel Louis growing more and more frustrated as I walked around so when I heard his voice, I followed it.  
He spotted me the second I entered the room. “What the fuck are you doing in here?”  
“Zayn told me to walk around and I could feel you getting frustrated so I wanted to see if I could help.”  
Anger bubbled up. “You are to stay in our suite until I tell you otherwise. Now go.”  
“Louis,”  
“Omega, do as you’re told.”  
I retreated quickly.  
Zayn and Perrie were still in the suite when I got there and they looked at me curiously.  
“Found Louis,” I mumbled.  
“Why does he look like that? He’s supposed to be a newlywed. That’s not the face of a newlywed who just saw their husband.” Perrie looked at Zayn.  
“Perrie, give us the room please.” He waited until she was gone to look at me. “What happened?”  
“He got angry the second he saw me and told me that I’m not allowed to leave the suite until he says otherwise.” I huffed. “Can you ask Liam to come and see me?”  
“Sorry, Harry. Alphas other than Louis aren’t allowed in this suite.”  
“So I can’t see my best friend and I can’t leave.”  
“I’ll check in on you. So will Niall.”  
“Can you ask Liam to pick out some books for me, at least? There aren’t any in here.”  
“Sure. I’ll bring them back to you when I can.”  
“Okay.”  
Lunch, dinner, and eight books later, Louis still hadn’t appeared.


	4. Chapter 4

Louis’ POV

 

“Your majesty...”

“What?”

“Zayn is demanding to be seen.”

I groaned, not prepared for his speech. “Fine.”

Zayn burst into the room, glaring. “What is your problem? It’s been a week and you haven’t seen your own fucking omega.”

“Zayn, I’m very busy-”

“So busy that you sleep in a guest room.” he snapped. “You took an omega, Louis. Do you not understand what toll you doing this will take on him? He’s refusing to eat now because he thinks he’s upset you. Which is even worse because as you’ve been told, he’s on his third day of heat and utterly miserable. You are in the building and he knows it. His heat won’t end until you get off your ass and knot him.”

“It’s not that simple.”

“Except that it is. I stood up for you. I told him that once all the ceremony bullshit was done and Fizzy wasn’t in danger of being a wife at eleven, you’d be better. He’s going to starve in that fucking suite or another alpha is going to break in there and knot him. Liam has fought off three of them. He can’t fight off every alpha in the fucking castle.”

“Harry will be fine. His heat will pass.”

Zayn smacked me. “You’re an idiot and an asshole. If this is how you’re going to treat him, you should have shot him. It would’ve been better for him.”

“He can get off all on his own.”

“Except he can’t because you chose a battered omega who thinks you’re angry with him and he doesn’t want to make you more angry so he can’t.”

“That’s-”

“Louis, go help him. I don’t understand what the big deal is. Just go knot him already. What are you afraid of?”

“I don’t know! Alright, Zayn? I don’t know why I haven’t gone to him yet.”

“Either go to him and man up or I’ll let someone else knot him.”

I growled. “Zayn,”

“I’m not joking, Louis. This is your omega and your husband.”

“I know.”

“Then act like it! And for the record, if Liam wasn’t defending YOUR mate from other alphas, he’d have pulled your lungs out by now. And by the way, you’re leaving him open and vulnerable for someone to hurt him. For someone to rape him. Hit him. God knows what.” He slammed the door on his way out.

I sat there for a second before getting up and heading to our suite. The second I made it to the hallway, I was assaulted by his scent.

Liam was arguing with an alpha in front of the door and I snarled. “It’s about God damn time.”

I slipped into the suite and locked the door behind myself. I stepped into the bedroom and choked on how overpowering his scent was.

Harry was on his back, still clothed in his jeans and t-shirt, sweating and twitching. His hair was matted to his forehead and he looked utterly debauched.

“Baby,” I whispered, glancing at the scattered trays of untouched food.

He made a small noise. “Alpha,”

I grabbed a water bottle and a granola bar from the stash in the nightstand. “Can you sit up and eat this for me?” I asked quietly.

He glanced at me, nodded and carefully sat up.

I closed my eyes and tried to focus. “Fuck, you smell amazing.”

“Please,”

I licked my lips. “Eat and drink this first.”

He did as I asked, quietly and avoiding my eyes.

I ran a hand through his hair. “Baby, I’m not mad at you. Was never mad AT YOU. Do you understand that?”

He shook his head no and I took the trash from him.

“I should’ve been here.” I muttered, watching him. “Come on, let’s get you out of these clothes.” I was careful with undressing him, groaning when I could see how slick he was.

“Alpha,”

I tore off my clothes quickly because I couldn’t think straight. I kissed his forehead and pressed close to him as I fucked three fingers into him.

His hips twitched a little and he gripped the sheets.

“You can move however you want. Want you to feel good.”

He made another small noise and fucked himself down on my fingers.

“There you go, baby. You look so good. Want you to cum like this and then I’ll fuck you. Okay?”

“Okay,”

I rubbed at his prostate and he gasped. “I know, baby,” I pressed a little harder and he came between us. “Good boy,” I fucked him through it with my fingers before pulling them out and moving up his body to let him catch his breath.

“Fuck?” He asked.

“Yeah, baby. I’m gonna fuck you. Gonna knot you.” I promised, licking into his mouth. “It’s okay. I’ve got you.”

He whined, spreading his legs.

I settled between them, lining myself up. “You’re okay, baby.” I pushed in slowly and groaned at the feeling. “Fuck,”

Harry wrapped his legs around my hips and pulled me in until I was all the way in. His back arched off the bed and he came between us.

“Good boy,” I leaned up to snog him and it must’ve created the perfect angle because he lit up. l bit down on his neck and fucked him harder, making marks up and down the column of his throat. “Come on, baby. Want you to cum on my cock and my knot.” I whispered.

His entire body clenched tight as he came again.

Somehow, I managed to keep fucking him through it.

“Knot?”

“Yeah, baby. Gonna knot you.”

“Now?”

“Yeah, baby.” I nuzzled into his neck and started to grind my hips deep into him.

He whimpered and I sunk my teeth into his original mark just as my knot expanded, locking us together. He cried out, cumming again and I had to force myself to let go of my hold on his mark.

I licked at all the marks on his neck and gasped as I started to cum inside him.

He shivered and I panted onto his skin.

I felt a surge of emotion. A need to protect and care for the squirmy boy under me. My omega.

And then I was flooded with fear, shame, and sadness.

I tugged him closer to me and rolled us over so he was on my chest.

“Sorry,”

“Don’t be sorry, baby. It’s my fault. I should’ve been here. I’m sorry.” I stroked his hair.

When he was asleep and I could pull out without hurting him, I got up and made a call to request food.

I cleaned us both up and dressed in boxers to take the food and hand off the old trays. I felt bad waking him up, but I needed to get some food in him. “Harry, wake up.”

“Fuck?”

“Food,” I answered, playing with his hair. “Can you sit up?”

He shook his head so I hauled him up into my lap.

“Baby, how are you feeling?”

He shrugged, but I could feel how tired he was.

“I’ll let you go back to sleep after you eat something. Alright?”

“Whatever,”

I fed him a banana and some toast and some yogurt.

“Stop feeding me or I’m gonna vom all over us both.”

“Sorry. Overboard. Zayn said you were refusing food and I just wanted to make sure you wouldn’t pass out on me or anything.”

Harry huffed quietly and I was bombarded by anger and hurt and sadness. “Stop looking at me like that.”

“Sorry.”

“And stop taking care of me like I matter.”

“You do matter.”

“Fuck off.”

“You do. I shouldn’t have avoided you. But I did and I can’t take it back.”

“Whatever. Zayn’s a fucking liar.”

“What?”

“Nevermind.”

I could hear Zayn telling me that he stood up for me.

“Stop projecting guilt.”

“I don’t know how to control what you get from me.”

“Well, neither do I, but I imagine my emotions aren’t screaming at you.”

“Harry, I-”

“I don’t want to have this conversation right now. I’m not going to be lucid for all that long anyway.”

“Okay, fine.” I let him go back to sleep.

He woke me up a few hours later, squirming around.

“Is it time to go again?”

He whined and I rolled over to pin him.

“I’ve got you, yeah?”

God knows how many days later, I woke up to find his scent calmer.

I nuzzled his neck and tried to go back to sleep.

He woke up not long after and wiggled out of my hold to put space between us.

I made a noise of discontent and he huffed.

“You know, I’ve been beaten down a lot in my life. And every time, I could always tell when I was going to get hit or whipped or whatever. It was predictable and easy. So I think that you’re worse because I actually had hope.”

I dragged him closer to me despite the squirming, pressing his back to my chest. “Harry,”

“You abandoned me. It was always your plan and I don’t understand why you tried so hard to make it feel like we had potential when you had no intention of making this real.”

“I had every intention of making this real. I have every intention.” I promised, holding him tighter. “I don’t know what happened to me.”

“You got your crown and you only came here because a story about your raped omega would ruin you.”

“That’s not why I came.”

“Then why did you?”

“Because Zayn made me realize how fucking stupid I was being. I was just so afraid. Fuck, I didn’t know that it would hurt you like this. I don’t. I don’t know anything about omegas, except what Zayn tells me. I know nothing. You slept shirtless the first night. The night I stayed here after we got married.”

“So what?”

“So?! Harry, you’ve been beaten and whipped and cut and burnt. You’ve got so many scars and I can’t fix any of them. And I was so fucking terrified to make more...I don’t know what I’m doing. I was raised to be a king. I wasn’t raised to be a husband. They didn’t prepare me for that. My dad ran out on us. Years ago. A king up and left his wife and their three kids. Of course he didn’t know about Fizzy, but...he left. So I don’t have any idea how to handle this and I was just...I didn’t want to hurt you anymore after forcing you like a piece of shit to tell me about all the ways you’d been hurt before and I fucking went and did it anyway. I’m so fucking sorry.”

“You can let go of me.”

“I am not entirely sure that’s true.”

“Louis,”

“What? I just. I don’t know. I just. Maybe if I hold you tight enough you won’t hurt so much.”

“You can’t hug it better.”

“I can fucking try.”

He snorted. “What did Zayn say to you? To shake you so bad you came to see me?”

I cleared my throat. “He said I was leaving you vulnerable for anyone to hurt. That someone could assault you or...take advantage of you and I just had to see you. God. If something had...” I pulled him in tighter.

“You’re crushing me.”

“Shit. Sorry,” I loosened my grip. “Lottie used to be really afraid of thunderstorms and she’d only calm down if we hugged her really tight. So I use it on my sisters when they need to calm down.”

“Well, I’m not one of your sisters.”

“Yeah, I know. But you are family. My family.”

“Let’s call a spade a spade. I’m not your family. Not really.”

“You are. You’ve got two sisters now. Fizzy already likes you more than me.” I rolled him over to face me. “I’ll never hit you. I’m a lot of things, stupid being the worst, but I will never hit you. I swear to God. And we’re going to start some self defense lessons for you. So if anyone...you can fight back. Lottie is quite good at archery so she can show you that if you’d like. She’s not eighteen yet, but her hand is promised to a prince in another kingdom. You’ve got two years to learn from her, provided you can pry her from her fiancé. I’m pretty good with a sword and hand-to-hand.”

He didn’t say anything and I pressed my forehead to his.

“Based on what you’ve said, I gather that Zayn told you about the advisors is that they moved up the deadline. But I didn’t tell him why. I didn’t tell him why I needed to marry before becoming king either. But I think you should know.”

“Okay,”

“I’m not very good at balancing my life. I have never been good at it. I am one thing and one thing only, maybe two if I try really hard. I’ve been a brother and a son first. Then a brother and an heir. Needless to say, I definitely didn’t handle anything with grace. I’m not sure I ever did. I’m not a sociopath or anything. I don’t lack compassion, but I lack the ability to see more than what’s right in front of me. I especially lack a warmth towards people outside of my family. That doesn’t make a good king. So I turned sixteen and they set the rule. I thought that it was just because I was so young so I never worried about it. Plus Lottie will make a better ruler than me, that’s not a secret or a surprise.” I paused. “The rule was created because I’m unfit on my own. The advisors, and my mum, believe that I require another person to even me out. And it was fine because I figured I’d just pass the throne to Lottie. But she fell in love and got promised to someone who has their own kingdom and Fizzy is eleven so...I was out of time.”

“So you need someone to balance you out. That doesn’t explain what the hell I’m doing here.”

“I’m getting there, I promise.” I laughed. “I decided that I would hold a meeting of eligible omegas. I had every intention of speaking with each and every one who showed up. But then you were there. With your beautifully curious green eyes. You weren’t afraid, intimidated, or ambitious. You were curious. I liked that. But I scanned the whole room. Talked with Niall. And I just kept looking at you. You’d put your head down by then, but. There was something drawing me to you. And before I knew it I was standing next to you.”

“Okay...”

“Anyway,” I cleared my throat. “You cleaned up and made the rounds and the advisors met you. My mum met you. I asked for more time and they said no. They moved up the deadline. They said that, no matter where you came from, something about you made the room lighter. They said that if they gave it more time, we could hate each other or I could drive you away. And they said that I needed you. That I wasn’t whole without you.”

He snorted. “That’s insane.”

“You can’t imagine how frustrated and angry and idiotic I felt. Being told that I needed someone else to complete me as a human being?! That I lost the time I did have because I chose the right person? That after ten minutes, you improved everything so much that it was too much to let me get to know you first. Because I might ruin you.” I closed my eyes. “Not only was I not considered a whole person on my own, but an unfit person who would ruin you. That hurt. A lot. And it terrified me more than I can explain. But it looks like they were right, about me ruining you, at least. I never should have run out like that. I never should’ve put distance between us. I never should’ve yelled at you and told you to stay in the suite. I’ve been...God. I’ve been such a fucking tit. I can’t undo the stupid shit I’ve done, although that would be nice. But I can do better and be better. And I want to.” I opened my eyes to look him in the eye. “I am so fucking sorry. I really am going to take care of you. I’m your fucking husband and your alpha. Your stupid ass husband and alpha, but still. We are meant to be equal in this house. I want us to be equal. And I want you. We’re gonna make up a code word for you to say whenever I’m being an idiot. So that way you can stop me before I get to the point of wrongly using my alpha voice.”

Harry rolled his eyes. “A code word?”

“Like a safeword for public life.”

“We could just pick a safeword for private life and use it in public. It’s not like it wouldn’t mean the same thing in a different context. And no one has to know it’s our private safeword.”

“Oh, uh, yeah, yes. Whatever you want.”

“Jupiter,”

“Jupiter? The planet?”

“It’s family friendly and something we aren’t likely to talk about.”

“Alright, Jupiter then.” I agreed. “Communication is important, right? So when things I do upset you or bother you we should talk about it. And vice versa. Not that you bother me or upset me. You’re lovely. I just mean-”

He put a hand over my mouth. “I know what you meant.” He removed his hand. “Sorry, I just didn’t think you’d stop if I didn’t stop you.”

“Yeah. I tend to spiral. Sorry.” I nosed at his neck.

“Are you close to a rut?”

“Uh, I don’t think so. Why?”

“Because you keep scenting me like I’m not in your bed sticky with our cum.”

“Our bed,” I corrected.

“What?”

“It isn’t my bed. It’s our bed.”

“Fine, our bed. Whatever. You still keep scenting me.” Harry snorted. “Maybe I set you off early.”

“Maybe.” I chewed on my lip. “I’ve never had anyone with me for a rut. Not that I’ve had sex with anyone before you. But I don’t really know how that will be for you. I don’t know what I’m like with anyone else and I don’t want to hurt you.”

“Rough sex is different than abuse, Louis.”

“I know. I’m not saying it isn’t. I just.” I huffed. “If I hurt you, go the second you get the chance. Run to Zayn or Niall or Liam, but just run. Do whatever you have to do and get out, okay?”

“You won’t-”

“You don’t know that. I don’t know that.” I interrupted. “We know absolutely nothing about how I will react.”

“Most mated alphas are actually quite soft during their ruts because they’re tied to the omega for life. They have no reason to think that the omega will try to avoid a knot or that they don’t want to have your pups. Our lives are tied together and you have no reason to get violent. Unmated alphas tend to be aggressive and violent because there’s no security.” Harry shook his head. "You won't be violent because even in your most primal form, you know it won't give you the outcome you desire. You’re essentially a horny teddy bear. You want a baby in me so your wolf wants to be nice. Unless something were to make you believe I was leaving or fighting you, nothing would make you violent.”

I pressed closer to him and nipped at his neck. "How do you know so much?"

"Because I got a public school education. All of us learn about alphas, betas, and omegas. We had it every year."

I mouthed at his bonding mark and let out a pleased growl.

"I want to shower, but I'm not sure it would be worth it."

"Why not?"

"Because your scent is getting stronger."

"Then maybe we shower together and don't put clothes on."

"I don't want to be caught on your knot in the shower."

"Okay, so I won't knot you in the shower." I offered, imagining a sudsy, heat glowing husband.

"Louis," he nudged me. "What are you thinking about so much? You're all aroused and sporting a semi."

"I am not." I argued.

"It's against my hip. You've got a semi. Tell me why you've got a semi."

"Don't laugh."

He hummed. "Tell me,"

I groaned. "I'm gonna be sporting a true stiffy if I do."

He pressed a little closer. "Thought you wanted to communicate. While you're at it, tell me why it's embarrassing you."

I huffed. "Thinking about you all soapy and wet. All glowy from your heat."

"Yeah? Using your soap and hair products. Smelling like you. Wearing your marks. Dripping wet. I bet you'd fuck me in the shower, cum all over the back of my thighs to get me messy again."

I growled.

"What I don't know is how you'd fuck me. From behind or face to face?"

I rolled him onto his stomach and wrapped an arm tight around his waist. "Can I?" I breathed, panting against the back of his neck. "Omega,"

"Yeah, yes. I'm wet. It's okay."

I fucked in quickly, keeping him pressed close as I rocked into him. "My omega," I pulled him tighter to me and he gasped loudly.

"There, fuck."

I attached my mouth to his neck and fucked him harder.

He cried out and came onto the sheets under him. “Fuck,”

“Want you to cum on my knot.” I growled. “Can you, omega?”

“Yeah,”

“Good boy,” I licked at his marks. “Tell me when you’re close.” I changed the angle to get deeper.

He pulled at the sheets. “Close, close, close.”

“Cum with me.” I took to grinding my hips, getting impossibly deep.

He whined and I sank my teeth into his skin and my knot expanded. “Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck,” he came again. He squirmed when I started cumming inside him.

I moved back to lick at his bonding mark until it sealed again.

“You really like that, the mark.”

I hummed in agreement, rolling us onto our sides. “My mark on my omega.”

“You’re essentially a caveman right now, aren’t you? You, fuck, you’re just gonna go all post verbal and-”

“Pretty mate,”

“Yeah, thought so.” He shivered and squirmed a little.

“No, stay. Stay,” I tucked my face in his neck.

“I’m not going anywhere. You just, shit, you’re still cumming and, fuck, it’s a lot.”

“Good. Want you to smell like mine.”

“I will,” 


	5. Chapter 5

Harry’s POV

 

I woke up to Louis making tiny little hurt noises. “What? What’s wrong?” Alphas are giant fucking toddlers.

“I don’t know how to get rid of the bad marks.” he huffed out, frustrated.

“What?”

His fingers trailed down my chest, pausing over scars. “My omega is hurt and I can’t fix it.”

I looked at him. “It’s okay,”

“No.” he argued, nudging me onto my back and hovering over me. He scented me and ducked down to be level with my chest.

“Louis, they’re scars. You can do anything about the past.”

“Not the past.” He grumbled, running his tongue over a scar in slow passes.

God, you’re fucking weird. “Louis,”

“I’m gonna try to fix.” He said, all full of authority.

I rolled my eyes and brushed his hair back. “They’re just scars.”

“They’re pain.” He laced our fingers together and proceeded to lick every scar and burn he could find. Eventually he was satisfied and flipped me over to lick at the scars on my back. “Better.”

“Can I go back to sleep now?”

He growled a little and I rolled over, curious. His pupils were blown and he was definitely hard. “Tired?”

“I’m okay, come on.” I started to roll over, but he gave a noise of protest. “What?”

“I want...” He scooped me up and placed me in his lap. “Okay?”

“You want me to ride you?”

“Wanna be close like this.”

“Okay,” I agreed, unable to fight the soft look in his eye. I raised up a little and he guided me onto his cock. I groaned, falling into his chest.

“Stop?”

“No, it’s okay.” I shook my head.

“But you.”

“I’m okay,” I rephrased.

Pacified, he slowly lifted me up again and dropped me back down.

I braced my hands on his shoulders and lifted myself up and dropped down, quicker than the pace he had chosen.

Louis pulled my chin down and licked into my mouth, hot and insistent.

I broke the kiss to moan and catch my breath when he started fucking up as I dropped, hitting my prostate dead on. “Close,” I whispered.

“Yeah? Hot,” he grumbled, sucking marks into my skin. “Ready?”

“Yes,”

He sunk his teeth into my mark and I collapsed on top of him as I came. His knot expanded and he moaned into my neck.

I panted against his chest. “Good?”

“Best,” he scented me. “Smell perfect,”

“I’m going to leak your cum for three weeks, I’d hope you were satisfied.”

“Better,” he said quietly, stroking where I knew there was a scar.

“What does that mean?”

“Better.” he said again.

I looked down to see the burns gone and the scars healed, not completely but definitely better. “Oh. How? What the fuck? How did you do that? Did you know you could do that?”

He flopped down on his back, pulling me down as well. “Sleep,”

I huffed. “You’re a useless toddler.”

 

~~~

 

“Harry, what the fuck?!”

I groaned, not opening my eyes. “If you want to pop another knot in me, go ahead. I’m not fucking doing any of the work.”

“Harry,”

I could feel all sorts of confusion from him and sat up to look at him. “What? What is it?”

“Your burns are gone and your scars are better. What happened? How did you do that?!”

“You did that. Like second day of your rut and you licked them because they upset you.”

“I licked them?”

“Yes,”

“And they’re better now?”

“Apparently.” Suddenly there were a million different emotions hitting me. “What? What’s going on in your head?”

“I might have an idea of what’s going on, but it’s highly unlikely.”

“Care to share?”

“Let’s just take a bath and go see my mum later. I’m sure she knows what happened. Maybe I just fucked you so good that you healed.”

I rolled my eyes and flopped back down into the pillows. “Come get me when the bath is ready. I’m exhausted.”

“It is ready.” He snorted, picking me up and carrying me into the bathroom. He was careful with putting me in the water and I was pleased to find the temperature just right.

“What happened to the sexy shower you were dreaming of?”

“You’re exhausted. I would never fuck you in the shower like that when you can barely keep your eyes open.”

“Mmm, having your rut after my heat was shit.”

“I know. I’ll see what we can do about suppressants if you want.” he climbed into the water behind me.

“I’d just like to be better prepared.”

“Well, unfortunately we had no way of knowing when you’d have your first heat. But now we’ve got that under our belt.” He cleared his throat. “Are you...? Did I...?”

I hummed. “I’m exhausted, but I’m fine. You were honestly an obscenely horny teddy bear.”

“Good. I mean good like I’m glad that I didn’t hurt you not like-”

“Louis, shh,” I groaned. “I understood.”

He quieted. “Sorry,”

“Not every single thing on the planet triggers me. Okay? Just chill out.”

“I’m trying.”

“I know. But I’m not glass. Not everything will break me. You tripping over yourself for little things isn’t going to do anyone any good.” I huffed.

He busied himself by fiddling with the faucet.

“Look, I know you want to make this work and I know you want to form a deep connection. Just let the chips fall where they may.”

“You can’t know that.”

“You let out these obnoxiously upset whines whenever you had to let go of my bonding mark. I know.”

“You’re very different from the first day we met.”

“Well, everything is different now. It would be foolish to assume either of us are the same as when we met.”

He hummed his agreement and found the soap. He was adamant about doing all the work in true alpha fashion.

I rolled my eyes and just let him do it, despite being perfectly capable of cleaning myself and washing my own hair, thank you very much.

When we got out of the tub, he wrapped me in a fluffy towel.

“I’m afraid I don’t know how to deal with your hair.”

I snorted. “I’ll handle it.”

“Okay,”

I twisted a smaller towel around my hair and left it.

A rush of...fondness ran through me and I looked at Louis.

“What?” I asked.

“Nothing, it’s just...cute.”

I rolled my eyes. “What’s the plan for today?”

“Well, we’ll speak to my mum first. But we need to make an appearance with our crowns in the local parade.”

“Parade? Today? How do you know that it’s today? We’ve been in this room for days.”

He pointed to a sticky note on the door. “We were left a reminder.”

“Oh.”

“Perrie and Zayn will be in soon to coordinate our outfits. We’ll have you meet the rest of your staff later.”

“What do I need a whole staff for?!”

“Trust me, you’ll need one.” He laughed. “I felt the same way, but it gets a little nuts around here. You don’t realize until you’re in the thick of it.”

I shrugged, peeling the towel out of my hair and running it through my hair one last time. “Where should I...?”

“The floor is fine.”

“The floor is not fine! You are not telling me that your whole life you’ve just thrown shit on the floor.”

He blinked. “Um.”

“Louis.”

“Well! I always end up with clean towels.”

“Your staff deserves better than that. Where’s your hamper or laundry basket? Doesn’t matter which.”

“Uhhhh I have no idea.”

“You’re a slob!” I realized.

“I am not!”

“You are!” I huffed. “Where’s your closet?”

He pulled me into a large room with clothes along the walls and shelves of shoes only on one half of the room. “I don’t even know that I have a hamper.”

I spotted both a laundry hamper and a laundry basket in the corner of the room. “This is for dirty towels.” I held up the basket. “This is for dirty clothes.” I pointed to the hamper.

“Oh.”

I glared at him.

“I didn’t know.”

“You can be messy. You cannot be a disrespectful slob.”

“You sound like my mum.”

“I am your spouse!”

He rolled his lip between his teeth, a bit of annoyance rolling through him.

“Don’t be annoyed. It’s not that big of a change.” I huffed, throwing my dirty towel into the basket.

“Sorry, just.” he shook his head. “Right.”

“What did you do with our clothes when you came here during my heat?”

“I threw them on the floor.”

I groaned, going into the bedroom and retrieving the clothes. “Hamper,”

“I get it.”

“Good!” I tossed the clothes into the hamper. “I have no clothes.” I realized.

“That will change quickly. Perrie will be fast in putting things together for you.”

“So what? I just stay in a towel while you get dressed?”

“God, no. I’d like to not be stabbed by Zayn.”

I snorted. “Why is half your closet empty?”

“Because it’s your half.”

“Oh. Well, do I at least have underwear or something?!”

“No, Perrie wanted to discuss with you first. About. Well. Um.” He squirmed when I looked at him.

“Are there clothes in the hamper?!” Zayn gasped.

“Fuck off, Zayn.” Louis grumbled, arms crossed.

“Oh, I see. Got your first spousely scolding.” He grinned. “I love having Harry around.”

“Okay, well, we’re both very naked and I would very much like to not be.” I looked at Louis.

“Zayn has Louis’ outfit already chosen and on the bed so when he gets some briefs on and leaves us be, we’ll get to work.” Perrie answered, carrying in multiple things. “It’s a pain that alphas can’t be in here because Liam would be so helpful with all of this shit.”

“Perrie,” Louis hissed.

“I know, I know,” she waved him off. “Zayn can help when he’s done with you.”

They left the room and Perrie closed the door, locking it.

“Is this where you murder me?” I asked.

She laughed. “No, just don’t need the husband butting into this.”

“Okay...”

“Look, I’m going to be blunt about this. You’re an omega and while not all omegas are the same, there’s a general trend that omegas like certain things and I need to know if that’s the case for you.”

I blinked. “What are we talking about?”

“Underwear. Panties, specifically.”

I flushed. “What?!”

“Louis doesn’t care. He wants what you want. I ran it by him when he chose me as his stylist. But I need to know because it is my job to make you looking good. No one looks good when they’re uncomfortable.” she held up two bags. “You can make the choice for one of the other or both. It doesn’t matter, but it is your choice.”

“I’ve never even thought about it.”

“Well, try them on and see what you want to do about it. Omegas, male omegas, tend to prefer panties. Alphas don’t get their knots in a twist over it. Most like it actually, really.”

“Okay.”

“I’ll leave you with both after we talk about your outfit for today. Since it’s just like a parade, there’s no need to be super fancy. Just a simple black suit, white shirt underneath. We are gonna keep the first two buttons undone though, to show off that neck.” She smirked. “Sharp teeth, that husband of yours has.”

“How to the look?”

“You haven’t seen?”

“I was a little preoccupied with my heat and his rut so.” I shifted my weight.

“You can look at them in a second. How do you want your hair? I think another bun would be good. It’s easy and elegant all at once.”

“That’s fine.”

“I’ll do it when you’re all dressed, okay? And while you speak with your mother-in-law, Zayn and I will be stocking the closet. When you’ve finished and return, I’ll fix up your crown.”

“Oh. Right. That’s. Yeah, okay.” I nodded.

She slipped out of the room and I stared at the two bags of underwear.

I looked into the bags and found all sorts of stuff, from lingerie to soft cotton to lace. I made a small noise and thumbed over the fabric.

“Harry? You alright?” Louis called through the door.

I jumped. “Yeah, I’m fine.” I dressed quickly and returned from the closet with both bags.

Louis watched me carefully.

“Did you have a preference?” Perrie asked, coming over to fix my hair.

“Yes,” I handed her both bags and tapped the one on my right.

“Okay, I’ll stock accordingly.” She nodded, fixing my hair into a clean bun. “Alright, there we go.”

“Thank you,”

She and Zayn both left the room and Louis’ curiosity started to bubble up.

“What was in the bags?”

“Nothing.”

He huffed, but let it go.

We went to see his mum and she smiled at us.

“I trust you’re both feeling better?”

I flushed and Louis wrapped his arm around my waist.

“Mum,”

“Sorry,” she held up her hands in surrender. “What’s up?”

“Harry has some scars and now they’re either better or gone. Do you know anything about that?”

“Did you put your mouth on these scars?”

“I might have.”

“I knew it!” She pointed at him. “I was right. I cannot wait to tell Lottie.”

“Mum, what are you talking about?!”

“In the royal bloodline, every male alpha has a true mate.”

“True mates are myths.”

“Then how did your saliva heal his scars? I knew it.”

“Wait, wait, wait.” I interrupted. “What is a true mate?”

“It’s a story she used to tell us about the royal family. Every alpha has multiple soulmates, as does every omega and beta. If they didn’t, then mating would be problematic. We think Zayn is one of mine; we could work as a couple because we’re complimentary enough, but we’d hate it.” Louis started. “A true mate is supposed to be the one mate that is your perfect match. True mates can heal each other with their saliva and there’s a host of other ridiculous things. It’s an old folktale from when the royal family used to go into battle. The original story is that a king was badly wounded and on his death bed. Upon his omega licking the wound in desperation, he woke up the next day without a single scar. Supposidly, the strong the connection, the quicker and better the healing.”

“The omegas are always from lesser status.”

“Yeah, usually servants.” Louis snapped.

“And it’s always when blue meets green.”

“What? That wasn’t in the stories.” Louis argued.

His mum got up and plucked a book from her bookcase. “Always when blue meets green.” She held out the book and I took it, curious.

The spine read ‘True Mates: Famous Couples and Other Knowledge’.

“Come with me,” She directed.

I followed her and Louis groaned, but let me tug him along.

We entered a room of portraits.

“All the royal couples,” I whispered, looking at each one.

“This is the very first.”

I looked up to find green and blue eyes staring back at us. “Oh.”

“A few couples later and...”

I followed the line of them, coming across multiple sets just the same.

“This doesn’t prove anything.” Louis snapped.

I turned to look at him, concerned about the annoyance and hurt bubbling up.

“Don’t.” He hissed, letting go of me.

I looked at the floor and thumbed at the pages of the book.

“We need to go.”

“Louis,”

“Harry, I said-”

“Jupiter.” I hissed, looking at him.

He stopped, arching an eyebrow.

“What happened to communicating with your spouse?”

His hand rested on my waist. “I don’t want to be here. I hate this room.”

“Why?”

“Because of the portrait of my parents. Can we please go?”

“Fine. But don’t go all huffy and annoyed with me.” I grumbled. “Thank you for sharing the information. I look forward to reading through this.” I nodded to his mum and left the room with the book in hand.

Louis was close behind me. “Harry,”

“What?”

“You should just give the book-”

“I’m reading it because I want to. I’m curious. Stories or not. I want to know.”

He sighed. “You’re upset.”

“Yes.”

“I assume that’s because of me.”

“It is. I’m glad you know that.”

“We should talk about it.”

“I just find it funny how-”

“Oh God. That phrase.” Louis complained.

I sighed and just kept walking.

“That got me in more trouble, didn’t it?”

“Yes, it did.”

He caught me by the waist and I squirmed out of his hold. “Harry,”

“Louis,”

“I’ve really agitated you.”

“You brought up how we need to communicate and then you make a joke about how I choose to verbalize what I need to say.”

“I’m sorry. I wasn’t trying to. I just-”

“Good! You’re back!” Perrie clapped her hands together.

“We’re not done here.” Louis squeezed my waist and went over to Zayn.

Perrie fixed my hair and secured my crown carefully. “There we are. This looks so good on you. Although I don’t understand why the crowns have emeralds and sapphires. A little weird. Beautiful, but weird.”

I looked at Louis and he pointedly avoided my eye. I glared at him for a second before fixing my jacket and growling a little.

“Everything alright?” Zayn asked, watching us.

“We’re fine.” Louis said quickly.

I snorted and he glared at me.

“We’ll give you a minute before we all go downstairs.”

I put the book down on the nightstand and crossed my arms.

“You’re being childish.”

I scoffed. “Me?! I tried to explain how I felt and why I was agitated and what did you do? You made fun of me.”

“I wasn’t making fun of you.”

“What were you doing then?”

“I don’t know. We don’t have time for this.” he huffed.

“Of course not.”

“Jupiter.” he glared at me. “Stop it. I said I was sorry so please tell me why you’re so annoyed.”

“Because you made this stupid communication rule and you don’t want to communicate. You were feeling hurt and annoyed so I turned to check on you. You snapped at me for looking at you.”

“I didn’t mean to snap at you. I fucking hate that stupid room and it makes me irrationally upset.”

“Okay, but you had been annoyed from the first time your mum suggested we might be true mates. Why does that bother you so much?”

“Because it’s shit! The stories aren’t true.”

I snorted. “Then what do you think is happening to us?”

“I don’t know. But it’s not that.”

“Why don’t you believe in the stories? Why does it make you so angry?”

“Because my dad was the royal one. My mum was from a wealthier family. She doesn’t have green eyes. He did have blue eyes. If the stories are true, he knew and he married her anyway. And then he left us and that’s probably why.”

I pulled him close. “Your dad either knew or he didn’t. Why he left doesn’t change the fact that he did. It doesn’t change anything. I know that the fact that he left you is upsetting and it probably makes you angry. And that’s okay. But if your mom isn’t upset about that, you shouldn’t be either. He made a big mistake and he can’t go back to fix it. Your mum is so excited about this. Let her be excited.”

“I don’t want it to upset her.”

“I don’t think it will.”

“But-”

“Louis, you can’t control her feelings. And if she gets excited about this, you should let her. And frankly, you should be too. It’s kind of cool. She deserves better than your dad and now that you’re king, she can find it. We can help her find what she deserves, yeah?”

“I wanna snog you.”

“Not sure you deserve it, but I’ll let you this time.”

He licked into my mouth and slid his hands to the waist of my pants. He slipped his fingertips under the fabric of my pants and gasped. “Are you...? Fuck. Are you in lace panties?!”

“Bet you regret being a jerk right about now.”

He groaned, slipping his hand under the fabric of my pants and palming at my ass over the lace. “Tell me what color.”

“If you’re nice to me, maybe I’ll let you see them.”

He growled a little, pulling my mouth back to his.

“Are you guys okay? I just-WOAH.” Zayn yelled.

Louis snarled. “What?”

“You need to go. Like now. Or you’ll be late. Also, stop playing grab ass.”

“His ass is mine to grab.” He grumbled.

“Your husband isn’t an object.” Zayn called, shutting the door.

“He doesn’t understand how cute and pert your ass is.”

“We have to go.” I swatted at his hand until he pulled it out of my pants.

“Can I get a hint?”

“What?”

“Color. Can I get a hint?”

“They are not neon yellow.” I answered, pulling him along.

We were situated in a carriage (what is my life, honestly) and directed to wave.

I listened to someone tell us different things about security and whatnot.

Louis slipped his hand to the inside of my thigh. “Are they nude?”

“No,”

“Are they-”

“Louis,” I snorted. “Why are you still thinking about it?”

“Because it’s hot.”

I rolled my eyes. “You really want people to see your hand there?”

He sighed, but moved it.

We were waving at a ton of kids and I caught sight of the orphanage.

Three kids were shoving a fourth around and no one was watching. No one even cared.

And then an adult slapped a little girl.

“What’s wrong?” Louis asked.

I jumped out of the carriage and made my way to the orphanage. I could hear Louis screaming behind me, but it didn’t matter because I had to get to the kids.

I scooped up the little girl and glared at the man.

“Harry,” Louis hissed. “You cannot do that. You could’ve been seriously hurt.”

“You can’t slap children. That’s not discipline. It’s abuse.” I snapped.

Louis rested his hand on my hip, looking at the jerk. “Did you slap this little girl?”

“We don’t have the staffing that allows for coddling, your majesty.”

Louis called someone over and had the man arrested as well as someone to look further into the staffing at the orphanage.

When all that was finished, he pulled me to walk with him back to the carriage. “Never again will you do something that stupid.” He hissed. “You could’ve been hurt. You could’ve been assaulted. Never, ever, do that again. I would’ve stopped the carriage, Harry.”

“Sorry. I just...” I shook my head. “I just acted. I didn’t even think about it.”

“Are you alright?”

“I’m fine. I just...I couldn’t. I’m sorry.”

He looked me over and went to speak with a security man who apparently should’ve never let me get that far.

“Well, well, well. Look who is back.”

I spun around at the voice behind me. “Wes.”

“Did you think a crown would mean I didn’t recognize you? Where’s your friend with the bat? You think marrying into the royal family means you’re worth it? You’re not.” he grabbed me by the wrist.

“Harry? Why are you-” Louis stopped. “Excuse me, do you mind taking your hand off my spouse?”

“Actually, I do because this piece of shit got me arrested. You said I tried to rape you, sweetheart?!”

I tried to pull my arm back. “You did try to rape me.” I said quietly.

Wes raised his arm, presumably to slap me, but Louis’ snarl made him pause.

“That’s enough.” He managed to pull me behind him and out of grasp. “I did not try to rape you. Omegas like you should be fucking grateful.”

“Watch your tone.” Louis hissed.

“Or what?” he reached out to grab me again, but Louis got him first, twisting his arm behind his back.

“Don’t touch him. Don’t look at him. Don’t think about him.”

“You care that much for a bitch?”

“You are no judge of anyone. He is worth millions more than you. And if you talk about my mate like that one more time, you will regret it.”

“I should have just slit his fucking throat when I had the chance.”

“That sounds like a death threat to a member of the royal family.” Louis said loudly and then there was a hideous snap. He stepped back and waved guards forward while Wes fell to the ground. “He’s made a death threat against my spouse. He’s quite finished.”

The guards arrested him and hauled him off.

“Baby,” Louis coaxed, looking at me. “Are you alright? You’re shaking.” He held my face in his hands.

“I thought.”

“I’ve got you. He can’t hurt you. He can never hurt you again.” He pulled me into a tight hug. “Are you hurt? Did he touch you anywhere else?”

“It was just the wrist.” I inhaled his scent and clutched at his shoulders.

He pulled back to look at my wrist. “It’ll bruise, but I think you’re okay. Are you, okay?”

“I don’t know.”

“Do you want me to get us back home?”

“No, no, um, we should...we should continue.”

“Are you sure?”

“I...yeah. Yes. A normal spouse would.”

“You are normal. Its okay if you don’t want to continue.”

“No, let’s do it. Just. I’ll stay in the carriage this time.”

“Please.” He pressed a kiss to my forehead and laced our fingers together. He let go of my hand to help me get back in the carriage and took it back once he was sitting next to me.

He didn’t let go of my hand again until we got out of the carriage and he was quick to reclaim it again. He pressed a kiss into my temple when we got to our suite.

“Pink.” I said quietly, as we put our crowns away.

“What?” He asked, sitting on the couch.

“The panties are pink.” I answered. “Think you earned that answer. Thank you for standing up for me.”

“You don’t have to thank me for that. I would’ve punched him if we weren’t in public.”

“Well, thank you anyway.”

He shook his head. “Come here and let me snog you.”

“If you insist.” I moved towards the couch and he pulled me to straddle him.

He pulled my mouth down and licked in easily.

After a while I could feel his erection under me and I pressed into it.

He growled. “Fuck,”

“On TV I saw that Harry was attacked and I-” Zayn stopped. “Gross.”

“No one knocks anymore.” Louis huffed.

“You’re in the suite, not the bedroom. If I knocked on that door, you’d never hear me.”

Louis grabbed the backs of my thighs. “To the bedroom then.”

“No, no, no. I came to check on Harry. Liam wants to see him.”

“Not here.”

“Wait, why aren’t alphas allowed in here?” I asked. “I’m just curious.”

“Because this is the suite we are contained in for my rut and your heat. It is the suite that you will nest. Alpha scents would cause problems.”

“Omegas come and go.”

“Omegas don’t make other omegas feel unsafe.”

“I mean, it’s just Liam.”

“I can’t, babe. Not in here.” He shook his head.

I frowned. “Fine. Where?”

“How about the library? You wanted to look for more books anyway.” Louis suggested, rubbing my sides.

“Fine. But I’m looking up more stuff about what your mum talked about.”

He sighed. “Okay.”

“Now?!” I stood up, eagerly trying to pull him along. “I haven’t seen Liam since before our wedding.”

“He’s going to throw a fit if he doesn’t get to see Harry soon.”

“Harry,” Louis cleared his throat.

My eyes dropped to his erection. “If we do, you and I both kno we aren’t leaving the bed for a few hours.”

“Too much detail. I didn’t need to know that.” Zayn snapped.

“Fifteen minutes?” I looked at Zayn.

“Deal,” Zayn left the room and I looked at Louis.

“I could blow you.”

“My knot takes longer than fifteen minutes to go down.”

“Well, I’ll have to make it up to you when we get back.”

He groaned. “Go somewhere else so I can think unsexy thoughts.”

“I’m changing clothes.”

“Okay,”


	6. Chapter 6

Louis’ POV

 

I watched my spouse come back with joggers and one of my t-shirt’s on. “Fuck, you look good.”

“I’m wearing joggers.”

“I know.”

“You’ve lost it. Get changed so we can go. I wanna see Liam!”

“Not sure how I feel about you being so excited to see another alpha.”

“You said Zayn is one of your soulmates. If you get to hang out with Zayn, I get to hang out with my best friend who beat the shit out of my abuser.” He crossed his arms and leaned against the wall.

I grinned, looking him over.

“What?!”

“Nothing. Royalty suits you, that’s all.”

He snorted. “Go change.”

“But all of my comfy clothes look better on you.” I sighed.

“I’ve never worn any of your comfy clothes before now.”

“I know. But I want to give them all to you anyway.” I mumbled, kissing him.

“Louis,”

“Sorry, I’m changing.” I laughed, dropping my clothes to the floor and grabbing joggers.

“Louis Tomlinson!” Harry hissed, following me to the closet.

“What?!”

“First of all, I don’t know your middle name.” He looked at me. “Second of all, where do your dirty clothes go?!”

I raised an eyebrow. “William,”

“Louis William Tomlinson, where do your dirty clothes go?!”

I sighed. “In the hamper,”

“So why are they on the floor.”

“Sorry, dear.” I grumbled, picking up the clothes and shoving them into the hamper.

“Don’t grumble at me or you won’t be popping a knot anytime soon.”

I looked at him to find a smirk playing on his lips. “You’re the worst.”

“Is that anyway to talk to your spouse? Your panty clad spouse?”

I dressed and pulled him up against me. “You’re a tease.”

“It’s kinda fun.” He laughed. “Come on. I wanna see Liam and I want to look through all the books!”

“You’re very excited about these books.”

“Well, I like to read and someone left me to rot in our suite for like a week so I didn’t get to explore the library.”

I hugged him from behind. “This is our home and you may read as many books as you’d like. If there’s something we don’t to have, we can ask Niall to get it.”

“I fucking love books.”

I let him tug me along for a while. “Harry, do you have any idea where you’re going?”

“No, but I wasn’t sure if you’d ever read a book before so I didn’t think I could ask you where the library is.”

I smacked his ass lightly. “Cheeky,” I took the lead, lacing our fingers together and bringing him to the library. “Ready?”

“Yeah,”

I pushed open the door and he gasped.

“Oh my God. There’s so many books!” He yelled. “Oh, sorry, sorry.” He whispered.

“Baby, this isn’t a public library. You can yell all you want. You will probably be the person who uses it the most.”

He looked around with wide eyes. “I have so many books to read. Do you know how many there are in total?”

“I think the latest count was one hundred million.”

He squealed and dragged me over to the shelves. “So many,”

“Should’ve brought you here forever ago. I didn’t know it would make you so excited.” I laughed.

“I like to learn.”

“Lottie claims that books are the best form of escape. She used to hide and read instead of participating in government. I imagine you found a similar escape.” I said quietly. “There’s a hidden nook she used to use. I’ll show it to you later.”

“Show me that nook and I might let you fuck me.”

“Well then, there’s five great reading spots I’ll have to show you.” I smirked, licking into his mouth.

He grinned. “Maybe I’ll let you fuck me with my panties on,”

“Harry,” I growled, capturing his mouth again and grinding against him a little.

“Be good,” he laughed. “Let’s find Liam and Zayn.”

I pulled him to the main set of couches and we stopped, watching Zayn and Liam snog and dry hump. “Well, well, well,”

They both jumped and looked at us.

“We’re dating. Fuck off.” Zayn snorted.

“You’re dry humping in a library!” Harry exclaimed. “You can’t dry hump in a library!”

“Says who?”

“Says me and I’m...” Harry looked at me. “What am I? Omega of the house? I don’t know how to finish that.”

“If you were a woman you’d be queen consort, but I’m not entirely sure what your title is...”

“Okay...well, whatever. It’s disgusting and you should stop.”

“Or...they could continue and we could go back and-”

“Well, if Liam doesn’t-”

“Stop it. Come here.”

"You don't have to see me, you know." Harry shook his head. "I know you're busy. I don't want to cock block you here."

"Shut up, Harry." He snorted as Zayn smirked and moved to sit on the arm of his chair. "We saw on the news that you were assaulted or something. What happened?"

"Nothing. Just some crazy. Louis handled it." He shrugged. "Not a big deal."

"You're lying." Liam assessed immediately. "Why are you lying? What the fuck happened?" He looked at me.

"Hey, don't look at him. He's my husband not my keeper."

"Then tell me what happened. What really happened?"

"Wes grabbed me."

Liam sat up so quickly he almost knocked Zayn over. "I'm sorry. I thought you just said that Wes grabbed you. Because if that's true and that wasn't the first thing out of your mouth, we are going to have a problem."

"Liam, it's handled. Louis had it covered."

"Oh, he had it covered. Well, I'm glad manners were able to diffuse the situation!"

"Louis is actually proficient in multiple styles of combat." Zayn laughed. "He can hold himself in a fight."

"I thought you were 'pretty good' with a sword and hand-to-hand. Proficient in multiple styles of combat?" Harry asked.

"It's not like I'm an assassin or anything." I shrugged.

Liam stood up and looked me over. "Alright, let's spar then."

"Not in here."

"Why not? Scared?"

"No, but my mate is terribly excited about this place and I don't think he'd appreciate us fighting in here."

"I wouldn't." Harry answered.

"Come on then," I pulled Harry to me. "Are you joining us or would you rather stay and read?"

"I kind of want to see. Sounds hot, kind of. Sweaty alpha husband all aggressive and powerful." He wrapped his arms around my neck. "Gonna fight for my honor?"

"Yeah, I'll fight for your honor." I promised. "I will always fight for your honor."

"Yeah? Good." He smiled.

"Come on then," I tugged him along to the gym. "Let's go."

We got to the gym and I gestured to the wall of weapons.

"Let's start with swords and move to hand-to-hand after?" I suggested, tossing him a sword.

He caught it. "Sounds good to me." He rushed at me and I blocked it.

"Have you trained with a sword?" I asked, curious.

"I picked up a thing or two along the way." He snorted, attacking again.

"I hope you picked up something more than attack moves." I snorted, attacking.

We continued to spar, neither of us giving an advantage until I knocked his sword away and placed mine at his throat.

"You let your grip go slack. I could see your hand relax." I tossed my sword away. "Take five and we'll continue." I pulled my shirt over my head and wiped my face with it.

"That was really..." Harry looked at me, biting his lip. "Really hot. God. They could make posters of you shirtless. Your approval ratings would be insane."

"This gets you hot?" I asked, picking him up by the back of his thighs.

"Hell yeah. Want you to fuck me up against a wall like this." He mumbled.

I groaned. "Yeah, I'll fuck you just like this."

"Good." He licked into my mouth.

I sucked on his tongue and moved to pin him against the nearest wall.

He gasped when his back hit the wall, throwing his head back.

I latched onto the skin of his neck and made hickeys everywhere I could reach.

"Are you done? Can we get back to it?" Liam hissed.

I put my spouse down and turned to him. "You think of him as a little brother, don't you?" I asked, looking at Liam.

"Yeah, so what?"

"So it bothers you. It bothers you to know that we're involved sexually."

He grimaced. "Shut up."

"You don't like that he married me, do you?"

"You want a real answer?"

"Yes, it would be quite the refreshing change to the brutish sarcasm I hear you exercise so often." I snorted.

He threw a punch. "I don't like that you made him your fucking arm candy."

I grabbed his arm and flipped him over my shoulder. "He's not arm candy."

"Yes, he is." Liam got back up and blocked a few of my strikes.

"He's really not." I got a few hits in and blocked a clever kick.

"You keep saying that, but I kind of feel like you treat him like a sexy toy."

"He's not a fucking sex toy." I knocked him to the ground. "He is my true mate and he is husband. Yield, now."

"Fine. I yield."

I helped him up. "He isn't a sex toy and if you call him that again, you won't be getting back up."

"You like him. You really do."

"Of course I do. I liked him before we got married."

"What the fuck is a true mate?" Liam asked.

"I KNEW IT! NIALL OWES ME 50 POUNDS." Zayn yelled. "Wait. If you and I are soulmates, and you and Harry are soulmates, and Liam and Harry are soulmates, does that make me and Liam soulmates?"

"No one said that Liam and Harry are soulmates." I huffed.

"You're jealous." Harry smirked. "You're jealous of Liam."

"I am not." I glared at him.

"You are." He laughed. "You're jealous of our connection."

I growled.

"Hey, enough." Harry snorted. "Come here and snog me, idiot."

"I'm fine."

"Oh. You're fine. You're not going to snog me." Harry pouted. "Well, surely someone will snog me. I can go find someone. Maybe in the hall?"

I snarled and grabbed his waist. "Don't play. That isn't funny. If anyone else snogs you, ever, I'll cut their heads off."

"You're the one who wouldn't snog me." He argued, turning away from me. "If you won't snog me, does that mean I also need someone else to fuck me?"

I yanked him closer to me. "Harry, I'm serious."

He grabbed a fistful of my hair and yanked. "Well, I'm not. You should know that by now."

I frowned, growling.

"Hey, stop it. Liam is like a brother. Chill out. We’ve never even kissed.” He paused, crossing his arms. “You and Zayn kissed. Let’s talk about that.”

I glared at Zayn. “Why did you even tell him that?”

“He asked why we didn’t get together.”

“You should’ve said because it would’ve been weird.” I hissed.

“You snog anyone else?”

“Eleanor, Danielle, Niall,” Zayn listed.

“You what?!” Harry growled.

“Snogging Niall was a dare. Danielle was when I was five and Eleanor was when I was thirteen. None of those count.”

He huffed.

“Baby, come on. Don’t be like this.”

“You’re jealous of someone who’s like a brother to me and I can’t be jealous of people you kissed?!”

“But I married you.”

“On a whim! Because you hand to!”

“To be fair, Louis has never to taken this quickly to anyone in his life. Not even his sisters. Or me.” Zayn sighed.

Harry grumbled a little, jealousy radiating from him.

“Harry either.” Liam noted.

“I’m sorry, baby.” I tightened my grip on his waist. “I never wanted anyone like this. Never sentenced a man to life in prison before either.”

“What?”

“He touched you! Threatened you! He’s lucky I didn’t snap his neck.” I hissed, moving away to angrily pick up my sword. “I should have just...”

“But you didn’t. You didn’t hit him and you didn’t kill him. You arrested him. And you didn’t sentence him to death.” Zayn looked at me. “You don’t give a shit about image so why not?”

“Because.”

“Because?” Zayn prompted.

“Because I don’t think Harry would’ve been okay with any of those things. He wouldn’t have liked it. And besides, he was my priority. He didn’t feel safe. That was my priority.”

“You really like him.” Liam looked at me.

I cleared my throat when I felt my cheeks flush. “We were talking about something else?”

Harry held back a smile and rocked back and forth on the balls of his feet, excitement and giddiness almost as loud as his jealousy had been. “Liam and Zayn might be soulmates.”

“Please don’t shag in the library.” I requested. “You both have suites and you’re welcome to both move into the same one, but just...nowhere Fizzy could find you.”

“We’re not stupid.” Zayn complained.

“Well, do as you see fit.”

“Thanks for the permission, daddy.” He rolled his eyes.

Jealousy and embarrassment flared up in Harry again.

“I’m trying to be nice.” I answered, watching my spouse.

“You’re trying to be controlling.” Zayn argued.

“I am not. I want what’s best for you.”

“Well, daddy, thanks for that.”

Panic and embarrassment and jealousy flared up in Harry, making me curious.

“Whatever. I need a shower. We’ll see you later.” I pulled Harry down the halls and into our suite. “Tell me.”

“Tell you what?”

“Zayn was making you feel embarrassed and panicked and jealous. Why?”

“We so aren’t at the place in our relationship where we talk about this.” He shook his head.

“We’re married and mated. True mates, remember?”

“This is...different.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Why?”

“Because it’s stupid. I was embarrassed because I knew how stupid it was. And then I started to panic because I knew you could feel what I was feeling.”

“Just...talk to me.”

“I know you and Zayn don’t have anything. And I get he was mocking you. I do. But it still...it bothers me.”

“What bothers you?”

He squirmed. “I really don’t want to talk about this.”

“Too bad.”

“Look, it’s just-”

“Harry!” Fizzy yelled, bursting into the room. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, Fizzy.”

I sighed. “We’re not finished with this, okay? We’re talking about it. I’m gonna shower while you chat with Fizzy.”

“Okay,”

“We’re talking about this.”

“Sure,”

I sighed and closed the door to the bathroom, trying to think. And then it hit me.

OH. Oh. Okay. Okay. That’s. Okay.

“Louis?” Harry called. “What’s wrong?” He opened the door.

“Nothing!”

“Why are you-”

“I’m not. I’m fine. I don’t need a shower, actually. I’m just gonna go...do something. Somewhere.” I cleared my throat.

He stared at me. “Louis,”

“I’m great. I’m good. I’m so good.” I walked into the hall.

“I knew you’d do this. I knew you’d get weird about it. This is exactly why I didn’t want to talk about it.” He snapped, slamming the door to our suite.

I huffed. “I’m not weird about it.”


	7. Chapter 7

 

Harry’s POV

 

I was in yoga pants and a white t-shirt when Louis came back to the suite. I was already showered and on the couch reading about true mates.

“You showered then?”

“Observant. Was it the wet hair in a bun that gave me away?” I snapped.

“You’re mad.” He said carefully.

“Go take a shower, Louis.”

“Alright.” He came back with joggers low on his hips and wet hair.

“If your dirty clothes are-”

“I put them in the hamper.”

I could feel him staring at me. “What?”

“We should talk about it.”

“I think we’re quite done with that conversation.”

“Harry,”

“Louis, we’re not talking about it. We tried and you got weird. You’ve been gone for hours. You missed dinner with everyone. So we’re not talking about it. At least not right now.”

“I was-”

“Off being weird. Yeah, I noticed. So weird, by the way, that you didn’t have tea and play cards with Fizzy as you promised her.” I looked at him.

“Oh, shit. I forgot. Fuck.” He groaned. “What did she do? Did she come to you?”

“Well she was with me waiting for you and when you didn’t come back she got upset so I made hot chocolate and we played cards.”

“Hot chocolate?”

“Yes, Lottie and her fiancé along with your mum and her friend Daniel, and Liam and Zayn joined us.”

“Wow. That’s everyone except-”

“Niall was there. But he didn’t want to play. He threw marshmallows at us the whole time.”

“So everyone except me.”

“Unless you have other family I don’t know yet.” I shrugged. “I also painted Fizzy’s nails and braided her hair.”

“She’s very fond of you.”

“She just likes me because I’m new and different. The novelty will wear off, I’m sure.”

“I doubt it.”

I rolled my eyes.

“Harry, come on,”

“What? We’re talking, aren’t we?”

“Not about what we need to talk about.” Louis sighed.

”Well, I can’t have that conversation right now.”

“Why not?”

I slammed my book shut and glared at him. “You know damn well why not. As if the whole thing wasn’t mortifying enough!” I stood up. “Fizzy has her competition tomorrow and I told her you’d be there.”

“That’s tomorrow?”

“Yes. And you’ll be there.”

“Of course I’ll be there. She’s my sister. I know that I have to be there.”

“Good. Because I don’t know what I’ll say to her if you stand her up again.”

“It was just tea and cards.”

“To you. She wants to spend time with you. She thinks you don’t have time for her anymore because of our marriage and your throne. You haven’t spent time with her since before our wedding. And I know that it’s not on purpose. But she’s eleven so she doesn’t.”

“You’re right. I know.” He paused.

“What?”

“You...you don’t talk about your sister. But I can tell you were close because of how you are with Fizzy.”

“I was only seven when she died. She was Fizzy’s age.” I answered, putting my head in my hands.

“That must’ve been hard.”

“I don’t talk about her to anyone.”

“Why not?”

“Because when I was in all those shitty places, I had her and mum. I had memories that couldn’t be taken from or used against me if I never talked to anyone about them. So I don’t talk about it.”

“What about your dad?”

“Don’t know. He was out of the picture before they died and when they asked him to come for me, he didn’t.”

“He didn’t...he didn’t come to take you out of foster care?”

“Nope.”

“That sucks.”

I snorted. “Understatement of the damn century.”

“Wait. If they died in the accident, where were you? You couldn’t have been home alone at age seven.”

“I wasn’t.”

“You were in the accident.” He realized.

“Yeah, my sister died on impact. The car that hit us hit exactly there. My mum died in surgery.”

“What about you?”

“Nothing too bad. A broken arm, some scrapes, and a concussion.”

“That’s not nothing.”

“I didn’t die, did I?” I asked.

“It might hurt less if you talk about them.”

I snorted. “No offense, but I don’t know that you’ve got the best advice of grief. Besides, it’s been over a decade so it’s whatever.” I waved my hands around.

“If you can’t talk about them, you’re not over it.”

“I never said I was over it. I will never be over it.” I pointed to him. “Why are we talking about this? Let’s not talk about this anymore.”

“So two conversations are off limits then?” He asked.

“The other one isn’t off limits. It’s just on pause because I’m too mad and flustered to have that conversation with you right now. The one about my dead mum and sister is definitely off limits.”

“Maybe it shouldn’t be. It would probably make you feel better if-”

“And how would it make you feel? To watch me grieve the loss of my eleven-year-old sister, hmm? When you’ve got one yourself? When Lottie is two years from leaving?” I asked.

“You can talk to me.” He put a hand on my waist and I pushed him back. “You don’t have to. It doesn’t have to be me, but it should be someone.”

“Whatever. Back to the point.” I shook my head. “Fizzy’s competition, tomorrow. If you’ve got a meeting then, cancel it. You need to be there.”

“Would you mind coming to pull me out? That way I’ll have no reason to forget.”

“Fine,” I agreed.

 

~~~

 

“I don’t have to wear a crown for this, do I?” I asked, looking at Perrie. “I mean I’m in slacks and a white button down.”

“Not today. Today you’re just a brother-in-law.”

“Good.”

Zayn looked at the clock. “We need to go get Louis.”

“Alright, come on.” I went to the room where his meeting was being held and entered quietly.

Louis was scribbling something down so I cleared my throat.

“Alpha, may I have a moment?” I asked, voice sweet.

Louis’ head snapped up and he said something to whoever was next to him before following me to the hall. “What’s up?”

“We need to get you dressed.” Zayn snorted. “You don’t want to be late.”

“I can’t leave.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Louis, it’s for Fizzy. It’s important to her.”

“I’m busy. I can’t leave. We’re drafting-”

“You can’t have a break? To see your sister compete? I told her that you’d be there because you said you would.”

“I know, but I can’t leave. I really can’t. I didn’t know this would come up. I have to stay.”

“They can’t take an extended lunch break?”

“That isn’t how this works.”

“You’re the king, Louis. Tell them you need two hours.”

“I can’t.”

“Then I will. We are equals in this house.” I snapped, moving towards the room.

He grabbed my arm to stop me. “We are not equal in the government. We are not equal in status.”

I let out a noise of outrage. “You can take two hours.”

“I can’t.”

“Then what should I tell your little sister?” I asked.

“Just tell her that I couldn’t leave. She’s old enough to understand that I have to work. It’ll be fine. I’ll make it up to her.”

I yanked my arm out of his grasp and walked away.

“Harry,” He called.

“If you have time to scold me, you have time to see your sister in her competition,” I yelled back.

“You’re overreacting.”

“This is nothing.” I snapped, heading back to the suite to collect myself before seeing Fizzy.

“Harry, what was that? You blew up.”

“He can’t keep a promise to his eleven-year-old sister. Twice now he’s stood her up.”

“He’ll make it up to her.”

“Yeah, well, I would run myself through with a sword to see my sister again for five minutes so forgive me if I don’t agree with him.”

“Harry,”

“Don’t. Don’t scold me, Zayn. I need a minute.” I shook my head.

I collected myself and left with everyone else when the time came.

“Where’s Louis?” Fizzy asked, looking behind me.

“He got pulled into something very important and they wouldn’t let him go until it’s finished. But said to wish you good luck and to cheer for you double. He said he can’t wait to hear about your victory when you get back.”

“He’s king. Can’t he just...demand the time?” She asked.

“He tried, Fizzy. He said that he’s sorry. The just wouldn’t let him go. Your brother is apparently very important to whatever they’re doing. They said the whole thing would fall apart without him. I told him that I’d scream extra loud for you.”

“Thanks, Harry.”

“Of course, now go grab your stuff and let’s go.” I hugged her tight.

“You didn’t throw him under the bus.” Zayn looked at me.

“No, I didn’t. What good would that have done?”

“Yeah, but you went above and beyond with all that.”

“I wasn’t going to tell her he didn’t wish her luck or even try to leave. It’s what she needed to hear.” I shrugged. “Are you joining us today?”

“No, this is just family.”

“Should I...not go? I’m not really-”

“With Louis not going, you definitely have to go.” Zayn shook his head. “He owes you big time.”

“He owes Fizzy big time.” I corrected.

Fizzy ran down the hall and jumped around excitedly. “Is it time?!”

“It’s time! Let’s go.” I grinned, picking her up and carrying her out the door.

I was screaming my lungs out for her when she was out there. I couldn’t believe how good she was.

“You’re very excited over all this...” Lottie whispered.

“I told her I’d be extra loud since Louis isn’t here.”

“You covered for him. I heard you.”

“Yeah, well, that’s for her. Not for him.” I rolled my eyes.

Not to anyone’s surprise, Fizzy placed in all categories and the entire family was up screaming for her.

She was showing us her medals and talking a mile a minute the second we got to her.

I grinned at her and watched her talk to everyone else.

She walked along the train tracks behind the group, happily singing to herself.

I turned when I heard the train and watched it get closer. “Fizzy, get off the tracks,” I called, but she didn’t hear me. “Fizzy!”

The train’s horn was blaring and I tackled her to the ground by the tracks just before it went blaring by.

I held her close and tried to calm the blood rushing to my ears. Holy shit. Holy fucking shit.

“Harry?” Fizzy asked.

I shook my head and popped my ears. “Are you okay?”

“You made a human cocoon. I’m fine.” She laughed.

We got up and I looked her over while the train finished going by.

“Thank you,”

“You don’t have to thank me.” I snorted.

“Oh my God! Fizzy!” Her mum screamed, running to us and picking her up.

“I’m fine. Harry made a human cocoon!”

“No more walking on the tracks, please.” I shook my head, looking down at my clothes. “Perrie is going to be so mad when she sees all these rips.”

“Uh, Harry, there’s a gash in your arm. I think that should be your concern.” Lottie looked at me.

“What?” I looked at my arms. “Oh, hey, I’m bleeding. That’s actually a good bit of blood. Okay, maybe I should do something about this?”

Lottie had me on my back in the dirt, my arm raised over my head until the paramedics assigned to the competition showed up.

“You’ll need stitches,”

“That’s gross,” I complained.

“We’ll do them at home.” Mrs. Tomlinson shook her head. “Louis will be livid.”

“Just leave him to his work. He can yell later.” I shook my head.

When we got back and I was all stitched and wrapped accordingly, Mrs. Tomlinson sighed.

“Thank you for doing that. You could’ve died.”

“You don’t have to thank me, Mrs. Tomlinson. It’s Fizzy.”

“Jay, please, call me Jay.”

“Jay, it’s not a big deal. I was closest.” I shrugged, wincing a little. “The adrenaline is wearing off and wow that hurts.”

She frowned. “Well, at least Louis can heal it when he’s finished with his work.”

“It’s fine. Is Fizzy okay? I know she got a couple scrapes, but-”

“Harry, she’s fine.” Jay laughed. “You should rest.”

I nodded. “I’ll go to the suite for a bit, but I’ll probably just be in the library.” I went back to the suite and sat on the bed, flopping down on my back.

I heard the crinkle of paper and sat back up to find a note.

‘Out. Back soon, L.’

“OH FOR FUCK’S SAKE,” I yelled, crumpling it with my good hand.

“How did it go? Did Fizzy fall? She’s all scraped up.” Zayn looked at me. “What the fuck happened to you?”

“What the fuck happened to my husband?” I hissed. “He went out? Are you shitting me?!”

“What happened?!”

“Fizzy was walking on the train tracks and I tackled her because the train was going to kill her.” I groaned, rubbing my face. “I caught my arm on wood or something. I don’t know. I had stitches. Fizzy’s alright. She actually placed in all categories.”

“Louis went out?”

“That’s what the stupid note said.” I huffed, tossing him the crumpled note.

“He went out?! What the fuck!”

“Thank you.”

“Well, I heard you were back so I wanted to ask without asking Fizzy. She can get in a fit if she loses.”

“Yeah, well. She did really well.”

“Harry, shit. That must’ve been terrifying. You mentioned earlier that your sister...God. Are you okay?!”

“I don’t know.” I chewed on my lip. “Louis isn’t even here. That’s just.”

“Come on.” Zayn pulled me along.

“Where are we going?”

“To the library.”

“I kind of just want to sleep.”

“I know. But I think you should see Liam. You need the comfort of an alpha.”

“Liam isn’t my alpha.”

“I know. But he’s like a brother so maybe it’ll help even a little.”

“Maybe.”

“If Louis isn’t back by nine, you’re staying with me.”

“That’s sweet, Zayn. But-”

“What if your stitches rip? What if you didn’t realize you had another injury? Harry, you can’t be alone. It isn’t a good idea.”

“Yeah, okay.” I agreed.

I ended up cuddled up with Zayn for the night. At breakfast, I glared at my husband’s empty seat.

“Louis hasn’t taken care of that yet?” Jay asked, touching my shoulder.

I didn’t know what to say so I just glared harder at the stupid chair.

“Lottie, no. We can’t.” Zayn hissed.

“He deserves to know. Louis-”

“Lottie, not right now.”

“Just tell me.” I groaned.

Lottie cleared her throat. “Louis made the papers.”

“Oh, great,” I mumbled. “What happened? Read it to me.”

Jay took the paper from Lottie. “Harry, I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“He’s going to find out anyway. He should know. Louis should be walking into a war zone.” Lottie hissed. “Fizzy almost died yesterday. Harry could’ve died while trying to save her and he’s-”

“Lottie, not right now.” Jay hissed.

“Fizzy,” I looked at her. “Do you mind going to your room for a bit? Five minutes?”

“One day I’ll be thirteen and then I can know things.” She huffed, leaving the room.

“Lottie, read it.”

“Are you sure-”

“Read the paper to me or hand it over.” I snapped. “Sorry. Just, read it.”

Lottie took the paper back from Jay and cleared her throat. “The royal family had an eventful day yesterday. After the youngest daughter placed in all categories of her equestrian competition, she was playing on the train tracks without realizing the train was barreling toward her. Harry-”

“I know what happened with us. What did Louis do?” I interrupted.

She nodded. “While his spouse and mate was busy saving the day, King Tomlinson could be found elsewhere, drinking away with some friends in town. He gave one final club appearance and was last seen with two omegas. The alpha seemed in high spirits and as of midnight, has not returned home to his omega. It is unclear why he wasn’t at the equestrian competition for his youngest sister and it appears his new title draws more omegas to him than his previous one.”

I sighed. “That’s...” I stood up. “I’ll be in the library if anyone needs me.” I took the paper from Lottie.

“Harry, breakfast hasn’t even been served yet,” Jay whispered.

“I’m not really hungry anymore.” I shook my head.

I was dozing off in the library when Fizzy called my name. “Fizzy, hi.” I sat up and hid the paper under my blanket.

“Everyone is in a bad mood, but no one will tell me why.”

“Sorry, Louis can explain it go you when he gets back.”

“Explain what?” Louis asked from the doorway, looking over us both. “What happened to you two?”

“Harry saved me by being a human cocoon!” Fizzy grinned.

“What?” Louis looked at me. “What does that mean?”

“Fizzy, why don’t you ask Zayn if he’ll watch a movie with us in his room? I’ll be right behind you.”

“I thought Louis was going to tell me why everyone is so upset.”

“He will. Later.” I nodded.

She gave me a look but walked off.

“Why is everyone so upset?” Louis asked. “Are you okay? What does she mean human cocoon?”

I took the paper and handed it to him.

“Hey, wait. I can’t go to Zayn’s room so-”

“That’s why I chose Zayn’s room.”

“Why do you look even more mad at me now than when I left?”

“Read the fucking paper, Louis. And then you can go fuck your stupid omegas.” I snapped.

“Woah. What?” He grabbed my good arm.

“Don’t touch me.” I pulled away from him and went to Zayn’s room.

“Fizzy went to get snacks,” Zayn said quietly. “I assume you wanted my room because he’s not allowed in here.”

“Yes.”

“The papers never get anything right. I’m sure there’s a reasonable explanation for the omegas.”

“Maybe. But what about going out instead of going to Fizzy’s competition? Not coming home until this afternoon? All that garbage of how he couldn’t come to the competition. God. What if I hadn’t gotten to her?”

“But you did.”

“Yeah, well. I’m tired.”

“Zayn, open the door.” Louis hissed, banging on the door. “You cannot harbor my omega, my spouse.”

I groaned.

The door opened and Fizzy came in.

Louis stood in the doorway. “Harry, come here.”

“No.”

“We need to talk about this.”

“No.”

“Harry. I’m not kidding.”

“Neither am I.” I glared at him.

“Harry, come with me. Don’t make me force you.”

“Add that to the list of problems we have.”

“Harry. Come with me, now.” Louis snarled, his alpha voice in full force.

Zayn and Fizzy whipped their heads around to stare at him.

“Louis,” Zayn whispered.

I stood up, stepping out of the room. “Start the movie without me.” I closed the door and followed Louis to our suite.

“I cannot believe you made me use my alpha voice on you in front of Fizzy.” He snapped.

“I can’t believe you used your alpha voice on me for this.”

“You didn’t give me much choice.” He sighed. “Lottie said you didn’t eat today.”

“So? What’s it to you?”

“Harry cut the shit.”

“I’m not the one who lied about work. I’m not the one who went out and got plastered. I’m not the one who didn’t come home until a day later.” I hissed. “I had to stay in Zayn’s room last night because if you didn’t come home and my stitches ripped, someone needed to be there.”

“You saved Fizzy.”

“Yeah? So?”

“You could’ve died.”

“Yeah? So?” I repeated. “Do you care?”

“Harry.”

“No, really. It’s a question that I’m asking you. Do you even give a shit if something happens to me?”

“Of course. Of course, I care. Harry, come on. You know that.”

“I don’t know that.”

“Harry,”

“What exactly am I supposed to think? The note said ‘out. back soon’. Your definition of soon is fucked up.”

“I thought it would be good to get some air and some space.”

“And some ass?” I growled.

“Don’t be ridiculous.”

“I’m being ridiculous? You were drunk off your ass with omegas on each arm. Do you even know if you slept with them?!” I pushed him. “Would you even regret it if you did?” I pushed him again. “Do you even care how this makes me fucking feel?!” I shoved him. “Do you even get it?! I was cheering on your baby sister and you were...sleeping around?!”

“Hey, stop that.” He demanded. “I didn’t sleep with anyone. They’re friends and they’re also mated.”

“We’re married.”

“I know, baby. I didn’t cheat on you. I stayed in a hotel room, alone.”

“Would you have? If you weren’t alone? Would you have slept with someone?”

“No, baby. Of course not.”

“Fuck off with the ‘of course, not’ shit.” I walked myself over to the corner and sat on the floor.

“I didn’t. I wouldn’t. I swear. I only went out because I knew you were upset and I didn’t want to crowd you.”

“Oh, so you went and got drunk?!”

“Not my finest moment.”

“Fuck you.”

“Hey,” He pulled me into his lap and held me close. “I’m sorry. I thought I was giving you what you wanted.”

“I wanted to avoid a conversation. I didn’t want you to go get drunk.”

“I’m sorry,”

“Stop it.” I scrambled out of his lap. “Your first instinct will always be to abandon me. Always.”

“Baby,” He got up and tried to reach for me.

“Don’t. Stop it. God and I actually was getting attached to you. For a second I actually thought...” I shook my head. “Forget it. It doesn’t matter. I was wrong.”

“Hey, please stop that.” He grabbed me before I got to the door. “Hey, I care about you.”

I snorted. “Bullshit.”

He put his forehead against mine. “Focus, baby. What do you feel from me?”

“I can’t.” I hissed. “What do you feel from me? How about that?”

“Anger and hurt and fear and sadness and hate and insecure and those things amplified by a million.” He answered. “Come on, try to read me.”

“No.”

“Harry, come on. Just do it, please.”

I huffed and closed my eyes. “I can’t,”

“Stop thinking, just breathe.”

I took a deep breath and focused. “Worry and fear and frustration and guilt and regret.” I tried to rip away from him.

“Harry, stop. Come on. I’ll tell you four things and you tell me if you know what the lie is.”

“This is stupid.”

“Please,”

“Fine.”

“My favorite movie is Grease.” He paused. “I dyed my hair bright red once.”

I snorted.

“I’ve broken two crowns.”

Something stirred in me, a weird feeling.

“I love footie.”

The feeling went away.

“You didn’t break two crowns.”

“I broke seven, actually.” He answered. “Four more things, ready?”

“Okay.”

“I love the Script. I ran away twenty-eight times before I turned sixteen. I was kicked out of class once for chewing gum. I cut a lock of Zayn’s hair once.”

“The chewing gum.”

“I was thrown out for talking.” He gave a small smile. “Now, I’m going to try this again. Tell me if I’m lying. I didn’t sleep with anyone. I didn’t kiss anyone. I didn’t cheat on you. And I actually care for you a whole fucking lot. And I’m so terrified to ask you how you are right now because I can’t imagine what it was like to see Fizzy on those tracks. Especially after everything.”

I pulled away a little.

“I’m so fucking mad I wasn’t there for her and for you. God. You sliced your fucking arm open. If you don’t want me to lick it that’s fine. I don’t have to.”

“You’re lying. You’re going to lick it either way.”

“Okay, fine. I was lying. It’s not okay and I’m gonna lick it until you can’t stand it anymore. Then tomorrow I’m gonna do it again and I’m going to keep fucking licking you until you’re better.”

“That’s the weirdest thing anyone has ever said to me.”

“Bullshit.”

“Okay, fine. But for the record, it’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever said to me.”

“What’s the weirdest thing anyone has ever said to you?”

“It was this little old lady and she said ‘you have to outrun the gremlins or they’ll throw you down an elevator shaft’.”

“That’s scary.”

“Yeah. It was.” I agreed.

“Are we okay?”

“No. We’re better, but we’re not okay.”

“Why did you leave?”

“Because I thought you wanted-”

“Lie.”

“I never should have taught you that.” He huffed.

“Tell me why. I deserve that.”

“Fine. I left because I am very quickly falling in love with you and it’s the most terrifying thing I’ve ever done.”

“How could that be terrifying? We’re married. It’s not like you’re gonna ask me out and I’ll say no.”

“Because I’ve never wanted to give anyone everything like this before and I don’t know what to do about it.”

“How about talking to me!”

“I’m a fucking moron. I know.” He groaned, putting his face in my neck. “God, it was so weird to not have you in bed with me. I couldn’t sleep because everything smelled all wrong.”

I huffed.

“Let’s talk. About it all.”

“Okay. Let’s start with if you ever pull anything like that again, if you ever abandon me again, I’m going to stab you.”

“Noted.” He nodded and cleared his throat. “I’m not freaked out about you calling me daddy if that’s something you want. I did freak out though. And that’s because I have about a million questions and if you can’t even say it out loud, I can’t ask you about it. And God I didn’t realize how hot it was until I understood what you were trying to say and that’s a weird realization to have about yourself in a bathroom while your husband and your sister are like two feet from you.”

I cleared my throat.

“I know that’s so not the issue right now, but I needed to say that. And I needed to tell you that you have to verbally say it or we can’t. We both need to communicate. I need to stop running. You need to stop bottling up.”

I rolled my eyes.

“Hey, come on. I’m serious. I want you to tell me things and I don’t want to use my alpha voice to get you to do that.”

“Then don’t.”

“You won’t talk to me or to anyone. I know you don’t want to open that wound, Harry. But you saved Fizzy’s life. And I know you lost your sister, but now you’ve got two more. It’s not the same, but they’re yours too. I’d really like you to tell me about your sister.”

“I don’t know how.”

“How about something small? What was her name?”

“Gemma, her name was Gemma.”

“That’s really pretty, babe.” He whispered. “If we ever have a daughter, we should name her Gemma. I think it would be nice. A good, strong name.”

I hadn’t realized that I was crying until Louis started wiping my face.

“Baby, it’s okay.”

I cried into his shoulder for a while and he rubbed my back.

When I finally calmed down, he kissed me on the forehead.

“Let’s see what I can do about this injury and then we’ll find you some food.”

“Okay,”

He unwrapped the wound and let out a growl. “Baby, that looks awful.”

“I didn’t feel it until after the stitches. Lottie pointed it out.”

“God.”

I shrugged.

He spent the next hour licking me. Which was so weird.

“How is your tongue not dry?” I asked.

“Dunno, but I don’t care.”

I looked at the gash, surprised to only find a scar. “Oh. Wow.”

“How’s it feel?”

“Normal mostly,” I answered.

“You’re still upset.”

“Yes. I imagine I will be upset for a while.”

“What did you say to Fizzy? When I didn’t show?”

“I covered because I didn’t want to hurt her. You owe her so fucking much, Louis.”

“I owe you a lot as well.”

I rolled my eyes. “What are you going to tell her? About why everyone’s upset?”

“I’ll tell her that I did a stupid thing. I’ll tell her that I upset you first. I’ll tell her everyone is mad that I didn’t come home like I was supposed to.”

“You need to carve out time for her, Louis. What if she had died?! Do you have any idea how you’d feel if you didn’t spend time with her while you could and then you never could again?!”

“No, I don’t. And God, I wish I had something to say. I can’t imagine how...almost losing Fizzy for you.”

“I could save Fizzy. I couldn’t save Gem. I tried. She was already dead.” I pushed him off of me. “Go see your sister.”

“Come with me.”

“No. I need a shower and to punch something.”

“I need a shower too. Let’s shower, yeah? No funny business, just...” He moved to kiss me and I dodged him.

“Please don’t,”

“Sorry.” He cleared his throat. “Let’s just...shower. Then we’ll have dinner with everyone and spend the rest of the night with Fizzy.”

“Fine.”

When we went to dinner, Lottie glared at Louis immediately.

“What is wrong with you?!” She hissed.

“Lottie, love, it’s none of our business.” Her fiancé whispered, nudging her.

“Harry is family now. It’s my business.” She snapped.

”It’s fine, James.” Louis shook his head.

“I cannot believe you’d be this irresponsible with your title, your reputation, and your omega. Your omega, Louis. Honestly, it’s like you turned your alpha off.”

“I don’t know what to tell you. I know I fucked up, Lottie.” He snapped.

I elbowed him. “Fizzy will be here any second. Watch your language.”

“What if he was pregnant, Louis? Did you think about that when you went AWOL? What then? He physically tackled Fizzy to the ground. If he had been pregnant, he could’ve lost the baby.”

Louis’ eyes flickered to me.

“Don’t look at me like that. I’m not. I would know.” I snapped.

“Would you? I mean, could you...be?”

“No, shut up.”

“Well, if he was, the baby is no doubt lost by now. So congrats, Louis, on majorly ruining everything.”

“Lottie, that’s not fair.” He sighed. “Tomorrow let’s have you in a checkup, yeah? Just...in case.”

“I’m not pregnant. Stop worrying at me like that. You’re like shouting your feelings.” I pointed to him.

“I mean, you can’t know for sure. Not without a doctor.”

“I would know. There would be hormonal changes and mood swings and every mood I’ve had is because of you so I’m not.”

“Harry,”

“What? Are you gonna use your alpha voice on me again? What happened to being equals in this house?”

“We are, but-”

“No, we’re not.”

“Louis! You’re here!” Fizzy yelled, running up to him.

“Yeah, I am!” He smiled. “I heard you placed in all your categories.”

“I did!!” She talked excitedly to her brother.

I smiled, watching her light up under the attention.

When she was finished, Louis brushed his hand against my cheek. “I’ll call a doctor in the morning.”

“I’m not-”

“Either way, want to see you checked out for me. Took a nasty wound when you saved Fizzy.”

“Not of your concern,” I said quietly.

“It is of my concern. I am-”

“You weren’t there.”

“I should have been.”

“Yes. Well, that was your choice.” I looked at him.

“Baby, I...”

I moved away from him. “You have some catching up to do with your sister.”

"With you as well, baby."

"We're going to be fighting for a while longer, I have no doubts. So it would do us absolutely no good to spend time together now."

"But-"

"Fix things with your sister, Louis. She deserves your undivided attention."

"So do you."

"Well, she's had it before. I haven't; I can do without."

"That's-"

"I'm not trying to make you feel bad. It's just a fact. That's how it is. It is a consequence of this arrangement." I shrugged.

"This is more than an arrangement, baby."

"Go." I ushered.

"You can come with."

"No, just..." I waved him off. "Just go."

"Will you be in our suite when I get back?"

"That's the plan. If not, I probably fell asleep in the library."

Louis kissed my forehead. "Alright,"


	8. Chapter 8

Louis' POV

 

I sighed, finding the suite empty. I made my way to the library and found him curled up with a book. I slid one arm under his back and the other under his knees as I picked him up.

He started to squirm.

“Harry, it’s me. Easy,”

“Oh, okay. Hi,” He said quietly, settling. “I guess I fell asleep.”

“Yeah,” I carried him down the hall.

“I can walk.”

“I know, but you’re light. I can carry you.”

“Alphas love to manhandle.” He sighed like it was causing him great trouble.

“Omegas love to be manhandled.” I countered.

“Maybe we do.” He agreed.

“What were you reading that was so interesting?”

“I found another book on true mates.”

“Any new info?”

“If you manage to sever our bond, I’ll die. So there’s that.” He grumbled. “Oh. And if you get killed, I die. Know what else?”

“Um-”

“If you cheat on me and it breaks my heart, I die. There’s a million ways that I die for stupid shit you do. This is no longer so cool.”

“I’m not going to cheat on you.” I grumbled, putting him down.

“Whatever. At least it’d kill me so I wouldn’t have to fucking deal with it.”

“Hey, stop it.” I snapped. “I made a mistake-”

“It’s not an isolated event. You prioritize yourself. Which, whatever. But your sisters deserves better.”

“So do you.”

“I’m an orphaned omega who came to the castle covered in mud. I should’ve died a long time ago.”

“Harry-”

“I should’ve died in the accident.” He sighed.

“Enough of that.” I snapped.

“Whatever.”

“Any good things about true mates?”

“Tons on sex. The panties are a common thing for the omega, apparently.”

“Interesting,”

He shrugged. “Not really. But apparently I can cum as many times as you want for as long as you want.”

“Fun,”

He rolled his eyes. “The book said we should be inseparable by now. It says that true mates are true mates because they choose each other in every aspect of life. At every turn. You have not chosen me at all. All opportunities you had to choose me, you haven’t.”

“That isn’t-”

“True? Fair?” Harry asked.

“Both.”

“Giving me the benefit of the doubt? First day of our marriage? My heat? My Daddy kink? Your little disappearing act? You will always abandon me. That’s what you do best. Let’s call this what it is. We’re together for biological reasons.”

“We’re not-”

“We are.”

“No, Harry-”

“I’m not arguing with you.”

“You’re wrong.”

“Bullshit, Louis. Let’s call a spade a spade. There’s nothing you can say to change what I think.” He got up and changed into pajamas.

I changed clothes too. “So what exactly am I supposed to do then?”

“Nothing. I’ll stay out of your way and I’ll be here when you need me for your ruts if you want that. But I’ll ask you to be with me for my heats.”

“This isn’t a biological marriage. I am falling in love with you so quickly.”

“Fuck off.” he huffed, getting into bed.

I woke up alone and groaned, rolling over to see if there was a note. When I didn’t find one, I rolled out of bed and got dressed.

When I didn’t find him at breakfast, I found him in the library.

“Did you eat?”

“Not hungry.”

“Harry,”

“Either force me or leave it. Those are your choices.” He snapped.

“Baby,”

“Don’t call me that.”

I tried to get a read on him, but there was nothing. “Are you mentally blocking me?? How are you doing that?!”

He shrugged. “Don’t know. Don’t care.”

“Harry.”

“Louis.”

I sighed. “Alright...we have an event to attend tonight.”

“I don’t think I should go.”

“We’re married.”

“First of fucking all, stop saying that like it means something to you. Second of all, I don’t think it’s a good idea.”

“Why not?”

“Because I’ve seen a mirror. I know what I look like right now. It’s not something we should publicize.”

I looked him over carefully. I eyed the tension in his shoulders and the lack of light in his eyes. “Harry,” I reached out to touch him, but he moved away.

“Don’t touch me.”

I could hear the slight change in his voice. The fear that I might do it anyway. Might push and make him uncomfortable. Assault him or something. “What can I do?”

“Go do whatever you’re supposed to be doing.”

“I’m supposed to be making amends and fixing our marriage.”

“It’s not broken. It wasn’t built to be anything other than a bridge to your crown so you could save your sister.”

“That’s not true.”

“Yes, it is. You’ve never once brightened up even a little at my presence. I am just another responsibility to you. I could feel that. I let it go because I was excited and I thought that I could be happy enough for us both. But I can’t and it hurts to look at you so if you could stop pushing to make things work in a way they were never meant to, maybe it would hurt a little less.”

“Harry, don’t say that.”

“I already said it.”

“I think that you need some sleep. And some food.”

“Leave me alone, Louis.”

“Harry-”

“I don’t need a rescue.”

“Stop blocking me.”

“I can’t. I don’t even know how I’m doing it.”

“You gave up on us.” I realized. “You gave up on us so it closed the connection.”

He didn’t look at me.

“Get up.”

“Why?”

“Get up. We need to fix this.”

“There’s nothing to fix.”

I huffed. “Seriously? So you don’t want this to work?”

“It does work.”

“It doesn’t.” I argued.

“God, Louis.” He slammed his book shut. “I’ll find somewhere else to read.”

“Harry, come on. Just talk to me,”

“I’m done with this.”

“Hey, enough.” I snarled. “That is more than enough.”

He looked at me. “What.”

“Open up to me. Talk to me.”

“I have nothing to say.”

I moved to touch him and drew my hand back quickly. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to...I want to touch you because you’re upset, but I also know you’ve said for me not to touch you.”

“I’m just done with this, Louis. I don’t like this game.” He got up and started to walk away.

I growled, grabbing him by the arm and pressing him into the wall with my body. I stepped back when I realized what I had done. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to do that.” I cleared my throat.

“You’re restless.” He observed, taking a step towards me.

“It’s my alpha.” I snapped.

“No shit.” He hissed.

I fought back my alpha, trying to keep my calm.

“This is why I don’t think I should go. We aren’t on the same page and we’re not in a good place. It’ll be easy to spot.”

“Then help me fix things.”

“Nothing is broken. Do you not understand that? My place is as your sex toy and your pawn. Let’s not pretend otherwise.”

My alpha roared back and I snarled.

“Come on. Put me in my place. Do it. Shove me around. I know you want that. You’re not different from them. You’re exactly the same. So just get it over with.” He shoved me a little. “Hit me already.”

I grabbed his wrists. “I’m not going to hit you.”

“Maybe not today.”

“I’m not going to hit you. I’m never going to hit you.”

“You will.”

“No.”

“Yes.” He shoved me hard and I stumbled back a little.

I roared out and glared at him, stepping forward into his space.

He held his chin up, waiting.

I tucked my face in his neck, inhaling his scent. I kept my face pressed into his neck until I could think properly, then I moved away and left the room.

“What was that? What just happened?” Harry chased after me. “What happened?! What did you just do?”

“What?”

“Why didn’t you hit me?”

I raised an eyebrow. “I’m never going to hit you.”

“You...I don’t...” He looked at me. “Why didn’t you hit me?!”

“I was never going to hit you. I will never hit you. There’s no reason that I should ever hit you. There’s nothing you can do to make me hit you.”

“That can’t be true.”

“Harry, I’m not going to hit you. I don’t want to hurt you. I know I did with some things that I've done, but that was never my intention. I won’t hit you. I will never hit you.”

“I don’t...” The mental wall between us started to crack a little. “You...I...but...I don’t.”

“I will never hit you. You’re safe here. You’re safe with me.”

The mental wall broke between us and I was flooded with emotions.

Confusion. Hurt. Hope. Pain. Sadness. Fear. Anxiety. And those were the easy ones to name.

I grabbed him just before he dropped. I picked him up and brought him back to our bed.

He whimpered when I started to walk away from the bed.

“What is it, baby?”

He whined, rubbing his face into my pillow and tugging at the comforter.

An omega drop. Oh God. I’m not...I don’t. I cleared my throat. “Baby, can you hear me?” I saw on the edge of the bed.

He wiggled his way over to me, half-conscious and not at all mentally present.

I ran a hand through his hair and he hummed happily. “Let’s get you comfortable first, okay?” I asked, glancing around. I went into the closet for some of my sweats and an old t-shirt, returning quickly when I heard him whine louder. “Sorry, baby.” I undressed him and then redressed him.

He squirmed a little.

“I’ll be right there,” I told him, going into the closet and changing into sweats myself.

He whined and whimpered until I can back to his side.

“I’m here, I’m here.”

He whined a little louder when the door opened.

I looked up to see Zayn in the doorway.

“Is he okay?”

“No. Have a beta bring food in.”

“Niall?”

“Doesn’t have to be.”

The door closed and Hatry quieted.

I sat on the bed and pulled him into my lap, stroking his hair.

Niall brought the food into the room and Harry didn’t move or make a sound. “What’s happening?”

“Don’t worry about it. Cancel everything I was supposed to do today. Just say tell everyone he’s sick. Only betas in and out of this room, alright? Please?”

“Sure. Anything else I can do?”

“Yeah, actually. There’s a stack of books in the window seat where he reads. If you wouldn’t mind bringing those here for when he feels better?”

“Of course,”

I tightened my arms around him. “I’ve got you,”

He whined, nosing into my neck.

“Shhhh, I’ll take care of you,” I promised, kissing his temple.

He melted into me and I let him.

Later, when he was lying down and I was next to him, he whined and started wiggling.

“What is it, baby?” I asked, looking up from my book on omega drops. “Tell me, what is it?”

He rubbed his face into the pillows, tugging on the end of my shirt.

I put my book down and moved closer to him. “Tell me, baby.”

He wiggled a little closer so I wrapped myself around him. He tucked his face in my neck and let out a small noise.

I stroked his hair until he fell asleep.

It took a full day before he was more himself.

He was tucked into my side, mouth at my collarbones. “Lou?”

“Baby, hi,”

“We’re touching,”

“Yeah, I know. You can go back to taking space later. You just need to stay close right now. You had a drop. Do you know what a drop is?”

“An omega drop? I’ve heard of it,”

“You essentially lost all higher brain functioning for about a day. Something about the block breaking down must have overloaded you.”

“Maybe,” He hummed. “How did I get out of it?”

“Rest and warmth and closeness,” I shrugged. “I’m not really sure. I was trying to read up on what’s going on. See if I could help anymore than I was.”

“Who stayed while you were working? Zayn?”

“I stayed.”

“No, I meant when you had to go.”

“I canceled everything.”

“Everything?”

“Yeah. I haven’t left the room since I brought you back here.”

“Why not?”

“I needed to be here. I wanted to make sure you were okay.”

“Mm.” He sounded skeptical.

“Are you hungry?”

He shrugged. “Tired,”

I touched his hair. “You can go back to sleep. I’ll be here,”

“I’m cold.”

“Do you want another blanket?”

“No. Cuddle me,”

“Are you sure?”

“Please,”

“Okay,” I agreed easily, putting my book on the nightstand and wrapped myself around him.

“Warm,”

“I’m glad.”

“I want you to fuck me.”

I cleared my throat. “What?”

“I want you to fuck me.”

“Let’s sleep first and then we can do whatever you want when you’re rested, hmm?” Clearly, you’re less yourself than I thought.

“Kiss me,”

“Yeah?”

“Please,”

I leaned into him, kissing him carefully.

He whined. “Lou, kiss me.”

“I am kissing you.”

“Like you mean it.”

I sucked in a sharp breath. “Oh.”

He started to get closed off. “Unless you don’t mean it. Then nevermind.”

I pulled him closer and licked into his mouth. His hot little mouth. I kissed him hard and hot until he got squirmy. “We should stop.”

“No, we shouldn’t. Come on, fuck me. It’s okay,”

“When you feel better, hmm? Want you to get better, baby.”

“Fuck me then,”

“It’s not consent when you’re like this.”

“I’m your omega. We’re married.”

“That doesn’t mean I don’t need, don’t want your consent.” I shook my head. “I don’t want this if it isn’t what you really want.”

“But it is.”

“Then it can wait until tomorrow, when you’re better. We can keep kissing, but I can’t fuck you like this. It isn’t right.”

He huffed.

“I’m sorry, baby. Consent is so fucking important. You’re so important.”

He crossed his arms.

I sucked a hickey under his ear. “I promise, I’ll fuck you as much as you want tomorrow.”

“Promise?”

“Promise.”

“Even if it’s none?”

“Even if it’s none.” I kissed his forehead. “Come on, let’s go to sleep.”

I woke up the next morning to find Harry squirming uncontrollably under me. I groaned and tried to pin him to me.

“Lou, I gotta pee.” He whined. “Let me up, come on.”

“Sorry,” I let go of him and he sprinted into the bathroom.

He came back to bed and slotted himself back under me. “Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For not taking advantage of me when I wasn’t me.”

“You don’t need to thank me for not raping you.” I rolled my eyes, rolling away from him a little.

“It wouldn’t exactly have been rape, not technically.”

“You weren’t able to consent. Therefore it’s rape. Your heat was different because we’d discussed it beforehand. If you can’t consent, don’t consent, don’t express your consent, it’s rape. There is no technically. You consent or you don’t. It’s either rape or it’s not. There’s no middle ground here.” I huffed.

“I didn’t mean it like that. But in all technicality, I belong to you. I’m just a thing so-”

“You’re not a thing.” I snapped, getting up. “You’re a person. You’re not a thing that I own. I didn’t buy you. Just as you are my omega, I am your alpha. You’re not an object.”

“Lou,”

“You know what? I need a second. I’m just gonna go grab you some books from the library. I’ll be back.” I got up and walked out of the room. I got to the library and threw myself on the floor, screaming into the carpet.

“What’s with you?”

Zayn kicked me a little.

“Nothing. It’s fine. It’s my own fault anyway.” I mumbled. “I just need a second.”

“What did you do?”

“It would be easier to tell you what I didn’t do.” I pushed myself up and started pulling books.

“What are you doing?”

“Harry’s awake so he’ll want to read.”

“How do you know what books he’ll want to read?”

“Because I know what he’s already read and I can follow the pattern.”

Zayn didn’t answer for a while. “Want to tell me what’s with you lately?”

“I don’t know.”

“Bullshit. I’ve known you for way too long to fall for that.”

“Look, I just...”

“You just what?!”

“I can’t stop thinking about how fucking horrible I am as a person.”

“What?”

“I plucked an omega from his home and his life and forced him to marry me. That’s the creepiest, most entitled thing I’ve ever done. You know? And I can’t take it back. I can’t go back. And like it doesn’t matter that I wanted to give him time and date him first and I know it wasn’t my fault that the date got pushed up. But God. That’s shitty. You know he reads mostly romance novels? Can you imagine how shitty everything must be for him? To read romance novels and to want all of that and just...not get it? I mean, he got all of a day. And I wasn’t even nice because I was too busy freaking out to even take care of him.” I pulled more books from the shelves. “I freaked out about Fizzy and I freaked out about eight hundred million things since it all started. Can you believe that I’ve fucked up so much? I mean, fuck. I spent my whole life trying not to be the shitty prince with entitlement issues who runs people over and look at what I’ve done. He’s miserable. He thanked me for not raping him. For not fucking raping him, Z. That’s...”

He made a small noise.

“What?”

“He’s a battered omega, Louis. He’s still surprised that you haven’t hit him yet.”

“I’m not going to hit him. I’m never going to hit him.” I snapped. “And I’m not going to rape him either. The fact that he just...assumed I would...” I scrubbed a hand over my face. “This is all fucked up. Because of me. I fucked it up. I don’t know how to even begin to fix it.”

“Did you try to talk to him about it?”

“What am I supposed to say?” I looked at him. “Walk in and say ‘hey, babe. Know how I fucking ruined your life? cool, yeah, I dunno how to even begin to make it up to you. I’m your alpha and I suck at it so. Sorry?’ Z, come on.”

Zayn hummed. “Just tell him how you feel. Tell him that you’re sorry. Tell him you want to fix it, but you don’t know how. Be honest.”

“Yeah, except he knows that I fucked everything up. Every single time I try to make things better, I make it worse. So much worse. He almost died saving Fizzy’s life and I was what? Out drinking because I couldn’t think straight and being seen with omegas that aren’t him. God. He dropped. He actually dropped. The first question he asked when he was sort of himself was who stayed with him while I left. He’s right. I keep abandoning him. And I don’t know how to stop because every time I hurt him, I just want to stop hurting him and I run and that hurts him more, but I don’t know what the fuck to do so I keep running. And all the good it’s doing. Should’ve just made you marry me. You already knew I’m a fucking moron.”

“You love him.”

“Doesn’t matter if I love him because I’m a fucking moron and I’m gonna end up killing him on accident if I don’t find a way to fix things.”

“What?”

“It’s the true mate shit. If I break his heart, he could die. Literally. He could fucking die. I could fucking kill him.”

“Woah,”

“Yeah. So.” I sat on the floor. “I’m scared. I’m so fucking terrified, Z. What am I supposed to do?”

“You’re supposed to tell him all of this. You’re supposed to let him in. Did you ever think that by trying so hard to protect him, you’re doing more harm? By not letting him in, you’re hurting him. You’re not helping either of you.”

“I could hurt him more.”

“I don’t think that’s the case.”

“But you don’t know.”

“No, I can’t know for sure. But you have to trust him. Trust that your bond can handle it.”

“And if it can’t?”

“It can. You’re better than this. Stop trying so hard to be what you’re not. That’s what the problem is. You need to just be you. Stop trying to handle everything without talking with him about it first.”

“Okay,” I shrugged, picking up my books and standing up.

When I returned to our room, Harry was sitting up and dressed in some of my clothes.

“I brought books.”

“I see that,”

“We need to talk. Well, I need to talk. Because I’m shit at communicating and it’s making things worse.”

“Okay,”

“I love you. And I’m so fucking shitty at this and I’m so fucking terrified of messing everything up and killing you is on the table now too so I’m just a fucking mess. I wanted to date you first and woo you and buy you flowers and not shove you into this world so quickly, but I did it anyway and I know I can’t control the fact that they upped the deadline, but I’m the one who’s acted like garbage the entire time we’ve been together and I’m the one who keeps running from you and it’s not because I don’t want you or I don’t want to be here. But I keep hurting you. And I don’t know how to fix it so I run and that makes it worse, but I don’t know how to do this at all. I am so bad at this and I’m so terrified and I want to make things work and I want to make you happy but I freaked out about Fizzy and I freaked out about eight hundred million things since it all started. I mean, fuck. I spent my whole life trying not to be the shitty prince with entitlement issues who runs people over and look at what I’ve done. You are miserable. You...you thanked me for not raping you. That...that just...you expected me to sexually assault you because I could. And that’s just so...that. I don’t even know how to deal with knowing that. Every single time I try to make things better, I make it worse. So much worse. You almost died saving Fizzy’s life and I was what? Out drinking because I couldn’t think straight and being seen with omegas that aren’t you. God. He actually dropped. The first question you asked when you were sort of back to you was who stayed with you while I left. Because you think I keep abandoning you. And you’re right. I keep abandoning you. And I don’t know how to stop because every time I hurt you, I just want to stop hurting you and I run and that hurts you more, but I don’t know what the fuck to do so I keep running. And I just. I don’t know how to do this and I didn’t know how to tell you think because I didn’t want to make it worse, but Zayn’s right that I need to talk to you about things because otherwise you don’t know why I’m doing what I’m doing and it’s hurting you more and I am just so fucking bad at this. I’m so sorry. Jesus Christ, I’m so sorry. I don’t want to hurt you and I don’t know what I’m doing and I’m a massive idiot.”

He blinked at me, big green doe eyes. “What?”

I groaned and sat on the floor.

“That was so much information to throw at me,” He cleared his throat.

“I know. But I figured I should put it all out there. Because this way, I’ve already said it and there’s nothing to hide.”

“Do you feel better?”

“No. I’m contemplating punching myself in the face.”

He leaned over the edge of the bed. “Come up here,”

I groaned. “Okay,” I got on the bed and he looked at me.

“I have a question.”

“Okay,”

“When you said you love me...”

“I’ve never been in love with anyone before and I didn’t know it would hurt so much.”

“We’re married. What exactly about that hurts you?”

“The look on your face. You’re so fucking miserable here. You’re miserable with me. And I don’t know what to do.”

“When?”

“When what?”

“Did you know?”

“When you left for Fizzy’s competition. That’s why I went and got drunk because I couldn’t breathe. I needed to think. I needed...I don’t know what I thought I needed. But I got drunk and my friends’ omegas were worried I’d end up in a ditch so they wanted to get me out of there. I mean. God. You were so upset when you left and that made me think about how much I’d ruined your life. It was too much. I wanted to go to the competition. To see you, to see Fizzy. But I couldn’t breathe anymore. Our room smells like you. My clothes smell like you. It’s...intoxicating in all the best and worst ways. I want you in so many ways that I don’t know what to do with myself.”

“Oh.”

“I’m sorry. That’s a lot. I know it’s a lot.” I fidgetted. “I’m really trying not to run from this conversation.”

“No more running.”

“No more running,” I agreed.

“I believe I was promised something.”

I raised an eyebrow.

“You said you’d fuck me. If I wanted it.”

My head snapped up. “What?”

“You said you would.”

My eyes zeroed in on his mouth. “Um, yeah, I did.”

“What if I want to ride you?”

My brain short-circuited and I watched his lips intently.

“Lou?”

“I, shit, sorry,” I flushed. “God,”

“Daddy,”

I surged forward and licked into his mouth, hot and wet and urgent. “Fuck,”

He hummed, pushing me onto my back and straddling my hips.

I groaned, watching him. “Anything you want, fuck, anything. You can have anything you want.”

“Want you to watch me ride you.”

“I...can I finger you first?”

He nodded. “Yeah, yes,”

“I...are you...are you, you? Are you okay?” I asked, pressing the back of my hand to his forehead. “Are you...have you eaten today? I haven’t even fed you yet, have I? Shit. Shit. Are you-”

“You cunts better be decent!” Niall yelled, barging into the room.

Harry huffed, sitting back on my thighs. “You have shit timing.”

“Well you need to eat. Louis threatened to chop people’s heads off if you weren’t provided for properly. Zayn said you were awake so they sent food,”

Harry raised an eyebrow, but didn’t reply.

“Are you fucking or fighting?”

“I was trying to get laid, but someone just came in here.” Harry huffed.

“Oh, well, eat first. Also, I’d really appreciate it if someone else were out there to help me deal with Zayn.”

“What’s with Zayn?”

I watched Niall’s face. “I just saw him not that long ago.”

“That was before he realized that Liam is in a rut and has locked Zayn out. It’s kind of pathetic to watch him paw at the door.”

I raised an eyebrow. “I thought they were together.”

“So did he,”

“They are.” Harry answered. “Liam doesn’t like being in a rut. He doesn’t want to hurt anyone. He doesn’t spend them with anyone. Said it’s for mates only.”

“Zayn is literally on his knees by the door with his neck exposed, whining.”

I blinked. “That’s...weird.”

“He’s losing it and I can’t drag him to his room by myself.”

Harry made a small noise. “Okay. Okay,”

We ate quickly and got up to find Zayn.

Zayn snarled at Harry, blocking him from the door.

“I don’t want your alpha.” He pulled his hair into a bun and tugged his shirt down a little to show off his mark.

I pulled him in to suck a hickey over it, catching Liam’s scent and growling.

“He’s like my brother. He smells gross to me. You don’t need to mark me up more, Lou.”

Zayn stopped snarling at Harry, leaning against the door and whining.

Harry stepped forward, banging on the door. “You fucking idiot. Come out here and get your omega.”

“You know that I can’t.”

“He smells like desperation and I’m not fighting off alphas so you can hide in there. Come and get him or I’m gonna let someone else fuck him. I’m gonna let someone else pop their knot in YOUR omega. Maybe they’ll mark him, claim him, press him into the mattress for hours and just take.”

I pulled Harry away from the door when it started to open.

“Knock it off,” Liam growled, voice low.

“Take your omega, Liam. Don’t be a tit.”

Liam snarled. “I can’t.”

Zayn whined, not moving from his spot on the floor.

“Fine, Zayn, get up. We’ll get you fucked all nice by someone else. I’m sure Louis has plenty of alpha friends who would be more than willing. How does that sound, hmm? A nice alpha knot to sooth you?” Harry pulled Zayn to a standing position.

Liam made a small pained noise.

“Wouldn’t that be nice, Zayn? Wouldn’t it be nice to feel full and wanted and claimed? To feel like you belong with someone, to someone?” Harry pushed.

I tried to focus on the severity of the situation, but God Harry was doing the sex thing with his voice and it was driving me nuts. “Want me to find you an alpha to take care of you, Z?”

Harry grinned at me. “Come on, time to get a knot in you for real.”

I stepped closer to Zayn and Liam snarled at me.

“Don’t.”

“Why? You’re not going to take care of him. You’re not his alpha. I can do whatever I want. I will do whatever my omega wants me to do and right now he wants me to help Zayn, an unmated omega.” I put my hand on Zayn’s waist and Liam finally snapped.

“Get off of my fucking omega.”

Zayn squirmed, helpless to his own reaction.

“Zayn,” Liam growled, stepping towards the three of us.

I pulled Harry behind me, quick to block Liam’s path to my omega. Just in case he couldn’t control himself.

“Zayn, come here.”

“Why? So you can tell me to leave again?” His voice was small and it hurt even me.

“No, come over here.”

Zayn stepped in front of him. “What?”

“You want this?” Liam asked, touching where Zayn’s mark should be.

“Yes,”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes,”

“He was whining at your door, Liam. He’s your omega.”

Liam sunk his teeth into Zayn’s bonding spot, clutching his waist and growling. He licked the wound and spared me one last snarl before pulling his omega into the room and shutting the door.

“That was good thinking.” I looked at my beautiful, brilliant omega.

“Alphas are notorious for their jealousy. They’re only violent when they can’t have what they want. Liam was afraid Zayn didn’t really want him. So he just need a little push to help him see-”

“Run the country with me.” I interrupted.

Harry raised an eyebrow. “What?”

“Run the country with me.” I repeated. “It’s yours too. It’s ours. And I want you there with me. I need you there with me. I think that together we can do more good than I can all on my own. I think you’d be amazing at it. You’re so fucking in tune with other people and you’re insightful and beautiful and fuck I want you to run this country with me.”

“Louis?”

“I know. I know. I’m like having this huge flip in what I’m telling you that I want and I’m asking a lot of you, but I just.” I struggled to find the words. “I loathe working on policy and I love you. I want to work with you. I don’t want to leave you in that stupid suite or holed up in the library. It’s all I think about when I’m working, how bored or tired or annoyed you are. Come on. We can do this together. That’s the point in all this, right? I’m already better for knowing you. I am. I know that. And I want to be better for this country. And I want you to get credit where credit is due and I want you to be with me. And I know you don’t love me back. I get it.”

“Louis,”

“I know, it’s crazy. But fuck. I want it. God. I wouldn’t have known what to do with Zayn. I don’t know when to stop or when I need to chill or when I’m overworked or...I want you and I need you by my side.”

“Louis...are you sick?”

“No. I’m just...I’m trying to communicate. You can say no.” I cleared my throat. “I mean. This is, uh, me...with feelings. And things.”

He looked at me, stared at me.

“Okay. Um. Wow. This is awkward. Okay. I’m...I...”

“You need a doctor. When the doctor comes to see me, he should look at you too.”

“Oh. Right. The doctor. The doctor to...” My eyes darted to his stomach and my jaw went a little slack.

“Hey, Louis, I’m seriously worried about you.” He touched my forehead.

“I’m fine.”

“You’re being weird.”

“I know. I’ve never had this. I’ve never had the Yin Yang thing with anyone before.”

“What?”

“I want that. I want us to be partners. I want us to be equals. And for me I imagine that would be us working together. But you don’t have to want that. And if you don’t want that, you don’t have to.”

“I...”

Oh God, this is so awkward. Why did I decide to talk about my fucking feelings?! I shouldn’t have said anything.

“Louis!” Fizzy yelled.

I spun around. Oh, thank God.

“Will you come with me to practice? I want to get started and be ready for the next competition.”

“Of course, Fizzy!” I laughed.

“Yay! Now!”

I kissed Harry’s forehead. “I’ll see you later. I love you.”

“Harry should come too!”

I looked at Harry.

“Uh, that’s okay. You two go.” He shook his head. “I’m gonna stick around in case Liam or Zayn needs something.”

“Okay,” 


End file.
